


One Of The Same

by dreamcatcher (darcangell23)



Category: Glee, Glee RPF
Genre: AU, Lessons to be Learned, M/M, Sci-Fi, body switching
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-22
Updated: 2014-05-10
Packaged: 2018-01-16 15:06:37
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 35
Words: 88,570
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1351849
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/darcangell23/pseuds/dreamcatcher
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>With his drive for playing Blaine dying away, Darren just hasn't been putting the effort into work playing the character. Ryan, concerned, sends him home early with something think about. But with a strange woman in white following him home, Darren's about to find out there is more than one way to learn a lesson. Not to mention get a first hand account of a Glee world in which Kurt never met Blaine.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ChrisCalledMeSweetie](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChrisCalledMeSweetie/gifts).



> So, this story was prompted by a question Darren answered yesterday. A question about what he would do if he found himself turned into Blaine for a day. This story will obviously go beyond one day but it is the concept that counts.
> 
> Also, this story was requested by my friend ChrisCalledMeSweetie so I promised to see what I could do with it and it will be a chapter fic. As such, I know I have three others going right now and the next chapter of From A - Z is in progress as we speak, but because this story is for someone, it will likely be my first priority. I have an idea of the world I am going to be creating in this story and lessons learned all the way to a realization at the end.
> 
> This is just the prologue, but more coming soon. Remember, comments and kudos make me smile. Enjoy!

"Cut!" Ryan shouted, letting out a long suppressed sigh and giving his head a shake. "Take a break. Darren, I'd like to see you in my office." His tone was short and the curly haired man watched his boss as the producer walked away from the set.

"What do you think he wants?" Darren asked his co-star and on screen love interest, Chris Colfer, as he continued staring after Ryan even though the man had disappeared around a corner.

Chris shrugged, picking up his bag from a chair and grabbing his water bottle. He said nothing, keeping his eyes on his own actions.

"What's with you?" Darren asked as Chris started to walk away without saying a word to him. The pale man paused and Darren saw his shoulders tense before he turned around and finally looked at the older man. Chris' gaze was steely and was that a flash of hurt Darren saw in his eyes? What on earth was going on? Why was Chris so upset?

"I don't know Darren," Chris said, tone clipped and the twenty-seven year old cringed slightly. Chris almost never called Darren by his full name. The two were best friends and incredibly close. This was how he knew something was seriously wrong. "Maybe if you hadn't been acting like your heart wasn't in it anymore, things would be different." Chris didn't elaborate. He merely turned on his heel and walked away.

Darren stared at the ground. He had been feeling sort of off lately. He bit his lip slightly and mulled things over in his head for a moment. Blaine was an amazing character to play, don't get him wrong. But he wasn't feeling like he was getting anything out of it anymore. Blaine seemed to be becoming one dimensional, and it felt like the character wasn't growing or evolving as much. Darren was beginning to lose the drive to play him.

Chris was right. His heart wasn't in it anymore.

Letting out a sigh, Darren began to make his way to Ryan's office. He was mentally preparing himself to be chewed out. He and Chris were used to getting scenes done in a few takes but they had been working on the same scene all morning and whatever Darren was doing, Ryan didn't like it.

"Come in!" Ryan called when Darren reached his office and tentatively knocked on the door. Drawing a breath, the curly haired man opened the door and stepped into the office.

"You wanted to see me?" he questioned quietly. Ryan nodded and gestured to the chair on the other side of his desk.

"Have a seat Darren," he said, tone not giving away the concern he was probably feeling. "Shut the door please." Darren did as he asked and dropped unceremoniously into the chair, shifting with slight discomfort because his nerves had him completely riled up. "Do you know why I called you in here?" Ryan went on once he was seated.

Darren shook his head. "No," he said quietly.

Ryan let out a sigh and rubbed at his eyes with his thumb and his forefinger. "I'm concerned about your progress. Lately, you aren't nailing scenes, you aren't dancing with energy, even your singing in the studio lacks enthusiasm." Darren looked down at his hands. "What is going on Darren?"

The man was silent for several moments. "I just…I'm not feeling playing Blaine or being a part of Glee anymore Ryan. Blaine lacks depth. His character has been a flat line for ages and he's not going anywhere."

"What are you talking about? He and Kurt are planning their wedding," Ryan replied, leaning back in his chair.

"That's just it," Darren said, throwing his hands up in exaggeration. "Don't you get it Ryan? Kurt is all he has! If Chris had left the show when Kurt graduated, there wouldn't have been any reason for me to stay because Kurt is what ties Blaine to the story." He paused and drew a breath before continuing. "If Blaine didn't have Kurt, he'd flounder as a character because he has no growth elsewhere. Sure there's a friendship with Sam and Tina but Sam is wrapped up in his own story lines what with modeling and Mercedes and Tina isn't even in New York. She's been written off. Don't get me wrong, I love being a part of the epic relationship that is Klaine but Blaine needs a story line that will help him to sail, should he ever lose the tether that is Kurt."

Ryan was silent for a few moments, thinking over what Darren was saying. "I'm not going to end Klaine," he finally said and Darren rolled his eyes in good nature. "I think that would be suicide given the fact that it's currently the most popular ship we have. But I see where you're coming from. A lot of Blaine's existence relies on Kurt because the character was created specifically to be a part of Kurt's world," he conceded. "But do you think Kurt would necessarily sail without Blaine?" he asked tentatively.

Darren had to think about that. Blaine had been a constant in Kurt's life since his initial appearance since season two. Other than a few other key characters, he was one of the most significant people in Kurt's existence. Could Darren really do that to Chris? Could he quit and walk away and leave Kurt to flounder without that solid tether? He hadn't realized that over time, Blaine had become as much a tether to Kurt as Kurt was to Blaine.

Ryan was speaking again. "Here's what I want you to do Darren," he said. "I want you to go home and sleep on this," he went on. "In the meantime, myself, Brad, and Ian will see what we can do to evolve Blaine enough so that he can stand alone if he has to. I really don't want to lose you Darren. You've very talented and I don't think the fans want to see the series end without Blaine Anderson."

Darren nodded his head and stood from his chair. "Thank you," he said, not knowing what else to say. Heaving a sigh, he shouldered his bag and headed out of the office.

* * *

The first time Darren saw the strange woman in white, he didn't think anything of it. She was standing at the door to the sound stage on the Paramount lot. Just this delicately pale woman with long golden blonde hair and a flowing white gown blowing softly despite the lack of breeze. Darren acknowledged her with a curt nod of the head and forgot the encounter completely.

However, when he got in his car and started to follow the lanes out of the lot, he saw the same woman standing by the guard station to the entrance to the lot. The curly haired man found himself slightly confused and he glanced back over his shoulder. The Glee sound stage was nowhere near the lot entrance. How had she gotten there so quickly?

Shaking it off, he decided to ignore the incident and drove out through the gates with a nod at security. He didn't notice the woman watching him.

The incident grew weirder when a few minutes from home, Darren stopped at a red light only to see the same woman standing on the sidewalk corner. And this time, something twisted in his gut. Mostly because the drive from the lot to this particular stoplight was at least ten minutes. He couldn't imagine how long it took to walk that same stretch but certainly it took longer than a car. He swallowed heavily and shook his head off.

"Get a hold of yourself Darren," he said firmly, tightening his grip on the wheel. The light turned green and he continued forward, ignoring the woman as she turned her head slightly to follow his car down the road.

The strange sightings didn't stop there though. But the next time he spotted her was the most frightening of all. He pulled into the parking lot of his apartment complex only to catch sight of the woman in white standing in front of the building door. What the hell was going on here? There was no way she could have possibly known where he lived or what route he took to get there, nor gotten there before he had. Were there four of her? Quadruplets? Each waiting for him at the four points he'd seen her? But that didn't make sense. It didn't explain how she knew things she couldn't possibly know.

Darren could feel her eyes on him even as he parked his car in his spot and killed the engine. Licking his lips, he pulled out his phone, dialed, and placed the cell to his ear.

"What's up man?" the voice picked up on the second ring. Darren sighed in relief and shut his eyes. "I thought you still had filming today."

"Ryan sent me home early," Darren replied. Before his roommate could ask questions, he rushed on. "Listen Joey, this is going to sound strange but I need you to do me a favor." Glancing in his rearview mirror, he could still see the woman in white watching him.

"Okay…" Joey said uncertainly.

Darren drew a breath. "I need you to come down and out the front door of the building and tell me what you see," he said.

There was a short silence on the other end of the line. "Darren are you on something?" Joey finally asked.

The curly haired man sighed and ran a hand over his face. "No Joey, I promise I'm not on anything. I know it sounds strange but I need you to do this for me, please?" He was begging by now, he knew it but his eyes wouldn't tear off the sight of the woman in his rearview mirror.

"Okay, okay man, calm down," Joey's voice reached his ears in a soothing manner. "Man, the things I do for you." Darren could practically hear the roll of his eyes as his friend finally agreed to carry out his strange request.

There was silence on the line then, the only sounds reaching Darren's ears were that of Joey's breathing as he hurried down the stairs. Darren never understood why the man wouldn't just take the elevator. When he asked Joey once, he said he had a bit of a fear of elevators after something that happened once when he was a kid. Darren didn't know if that was the truth or not but he didn't press matters.

Darren had met Joey Richter in college. The two of them were both founding members of Starkid Productions. The fans knew Joey as the lovable Ron Weasley from the Starkid Harry Potter musicals, for which they were most famous. Darren himself had played Harry and written a majority of the songs. Joey had also had a small cameo in Glee when he appeared as a member of Adam's Apples. Like Ron was to Harry, so was Joey to Darren.

Darren hadn't realized he had zoned out until Joey's voice reached his ears again. "Dare man, there's nothing out here," he said. The curly haired man glanced back up at the rearview mirror and his eyes widened. The woman in white was gone but he could see Joey standing there with his phone to his ear and his other hand running through his hair.

"Right, okay," Darren replied nervously. "I'll be right there. I think I need a nap. I'm losing it," he admitted, moving to climb out of his car.

"Sounds like it," Joey teased.

"Shut up," Darren said. He hung up the phone and slammed his car door shut, jogging to the front of the building just as Joey was slipping his own phone into his pocket.

"You wanna tell me what that was all about?" Joey asked as he opened the door to the building and offered Darren to pass through first.

Darren shook his head. "Nothing," he replied. "Don't worry about it." Joey gave him a curious look but didn't press him for more. "I'll meet you upstairs," he added, jamming his finger on the up button for the elevator. Joey rolled his eyes but said nothing as he started the climb back up the stairs.

Darren was lost in thought as he rode the elevator up to the fourth floor of the building. Who was that woman in white? What the heck did she want? Was he hallucinating? Did he eat something funny that morning? He didn't think so. He'd been running late as he had countless other times and so subjected himself to a breakfast he'd had plenty of times before. Donuts and coffee served on the set. He couldn't imagine why anyone would lace any of it with hallucinogenic drugs.

That thought caused his mind to wander to a nightmare he'd had way back during filming for season three. Darren remember how terrified his subconscious was about what the character of Sebastian Smythe might possibly be capable of. Despite how thrilling it had been to have someone there to shake up Klaine a bit. He'd had a dream that Sebastian date raped Blaine and gave him some nasty STD. The dream had certainly been way overboard so he never mentioned it to anyone.

But this wasn't a dream, this was real life and there was no smirky little meerkat sleaze lurking around the Glee sound stage, just waiting to drug the coffee or donuts.

The elevator dinged, shaking him out of his thoughts just in time to step off before the doors closed and he got carted away again. Joey was standing in the doorway of their shared apartment with an eyebrow raised.

"You sure you're okay?" he asked and Darren quickly nodded.

"Yeah," he replied, trying to sound nonchalant. "I just need some sleep," he added, though he wasn't sure he even believed him. Joey just looked at him for a moment before he nodded his head.

"Yeah sure man, whatever you need," he said and moved into the apartment to allow Darren to enter. The curly haired man gave him a look of gratitude as he shut the door to the apartment behind him. Joey didn't say anything else, watching Darren retreat into his room and shut the door, a worried look on his face.

The moment Darren entered his room, he sat down on the bed and pulled his shoes and socks off, stripping down until he was in nothing but his boxers and a wife beater. Sighing heavily, he got up from the end of the bed and pulled back the covers. Most people might be surprised to learn that Darren always made his bed every morning. He certainly didn't seem the type.

Sighing again, Darren slid in between the sheets of his bed and tucked his hands behind his head, staring up at the ceiling as his mind began to wander again. It wouldn't shut off. He was beginning to wonder if his mind would ever allow him to sleep if only for a short time.

But Darren got so lost in his thoughts, thinking about the woman in white and then about what Ryan had told him to think about, he didn't notice the world outside his window start to ripple. And it was with the appearance of the strange woman in white at his window that the curly haired man drifted off into a fitful sleep.


	2. Chapter One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, here is the first official chapter! Yay! Sorry this didn't get done earlier. I got distracted by singing to Glee music. And then I tried to get this up like 20 min ago but the site wasn't working for some reason. :P
> 
> Anyway, thanks to my friend ChrisCalledMeSweetie for requesting this idea. It's already becoming an interesting adventure. And thank you so far to everyone who has read or commented or given kudos or whatever you have done.
> 
> As always kudos and comments me make smile. Enjoy!

Darren blinked his eyes open, slightly disoriented and trying to figure out exactly what was going on. He remembered being sent home early from the set, remembered the strange woman in white that had seemingly followed him home, remembered Joey's concern and felt a swell of gratitude for his friend.

However, he did not remember his TV being in an entertainment center directly across from the bed. Or the guitar leaning against the desk and wait…when had he actually gotten a desk? And he was pretty sure his windows were in his east wall not the west wall and behind his head. Not to mention, this wasn't his bedding either. What in the world was going on?

"Joey?" Darren called, out, sitting up in the bed. It only took him a minute to realize that he was wearing pajamas that certainly were not his. Seriously? First he wakes up in a place that wasn't his room and now he was wearing pajamas that didn't belong to him? What the hell?

The door to the room opened and Darren looked over at it, realizing that it wasn't in the right place either.

"Blaine?" came the voice of a girl he didn't recognize. Darren didn't know who she was. He'd never seen her before in his life. Wait, what did she say?

"Did you just call me Blaine?" he asked incredulously. The girl stared at him with wide eyes. She looked like she was barely out of high school, about the same age Blaine would be but what was she doing here? And why did she call him Blaine? Blaine was a fictional character, right?

Before the strange girl could reply, loud honking and noises from the street pulled Darren's attention and the man slid from the bed, making haste to the window. He pulled down the blinds - another thing he didn't recognize because his windows had curtains, not blinds - and peered out through the slats. What he saw made his eyes go wide.

Down below, the street was flooded with pedestrians and yellow taxi cabs filled out more of the cars than anything else. The buildings around were tall and compact. This wasn't Los Angeles. It most certainly was not LA.

"Are we in New York?" Darren asked, turning to look at the girl.

The girl looked at him like he was crazy or something. "Blaine, are you feeling okay? Of course we're in New York. We've lived here for a number of months now. Remember? You started NYADA last fall."

Darren furrowed his brow. What the hell was she talking about? Blaine wasn't real. There was no way he could have gotten from LA to New York in his sleep. And NYADA was a fictional school created for the Glee universe. If the twenty-seven year old didn't know any better, he'd say something had thrown him right into Glee for real.

Deciding to test this theory, he said tentatively, "Where's Kurt?" The girl gave him another odd look.

"Who's Kurt?" she asked.

"He's my fiancé." Surely if this girl knew him, she would know that.

She looked at him for a moment. "Blaine, you don't have a fiancé. You don't even have a boyfriend. But you do have a date with Garrett tonight. And you promised to tell me all about it."

The only thing he managed to pick up from what she had just said was that he didn't have a fiancé. Alarm bells went off in his head and Darren remembered something about his discussion with Ryan that afternoon. Ryan asking him if he thought Kurt would necessarily sail without Blaine.

Blaine had come at a very crucial time in Kurt's life. The boy was bullied so terribly. He was barely keeping his head above water. Blaine gave him the courage to face all that. But than, if Kurt supposedly didn't know Blaine now, what the hell had happened to him?

"I have to go," Darren said hastily, grabbing a jacket off the desk chair. He didn't even care that he was still dressed in the pajamas that weren't his.

"Where are you going?" she asked with her eyebrows raised.

"To find Kurt," he replied, moving to rush passed her, licking both hands and smoothing them over his hair. That'll have to do. Darren had no idea how to gel it properly. He wasn't the one that did his hair everyday. Not that he cared. He absolutely hated the gelmet. And if his crazy realizations were correct and he was now somehow stuck in Blaine's body in a world that didn't exist, well than, why not play up changing the boy's style if it was in his own hands?

"In your pajamas?" the girl asked incredulously. He didn't reply.

Surprisingly, Darren was able to find his way around the apartment easily. A guy he didn't recognize was eating cereal out of a bowl, sitting on the couch in front of a TV displaying Saturday morning cartoons. Some people never grew up and had he been himself, the man would have joined the unfamiliar guy in his viewing of animated television. As it were, he was apparently not himself and he had bigger fish to fry.

So instead, he bi-passed the guy who offered a quick hi and bye Blaine as he flew out the door and bolted down the apartment stairs.

Running out into the street, Darren hailed the first taxi he saw. The driver looked at him oddly probably because of the way he was dressed but he didn't care.

"Nearest library and step on it!" he told the driver without even being asked. The man didn't question him but nodded his head and pulled away from the curb. Darren realized then that he hadn't bothered to look for Blaine's wallet or keys but if he was anything like he had been playing him recently, he'd developed a habit of leaving the items in his jacket pocket. Sure enough, when he went through the pockets, he found both Blaine's wallet and house keys and let out a sigh of relief.

"You okay buddy?" the driver asked, looking back at him through the rearview mirror.

"Just peachy," Darren replied, knowing that his tone came off as sarcastic. God, he was spending too much time with Chris. He wasn't sarcastic really by any means and neither was Blaine. It was Chris and Kurt who were the sarcastic ones.

Oh God, Chris! If Darren was somehow stuck in the fictional Glee universe as Blaine, where was Chris? He hoped he wasn't Kurt. He hoped Chris was okay. What about filming? Wait, Chris was mad at him. Oh shit. He couldn't fix things with Chris if he was stuck here! He had to get out of this mess.

Wait! There was something else in Blaine's pocket and Darren pulled the object out to find it was a cell phone. Why Blaine had it in his jacket pocket and not sitting on the nightstand charging or something while he slept, the curly haired man couldn't figure out but with it in his hand, it dawned on him suddenly that he didn't need to go to the library to locate Kurt.

"Sorry to do this to you," he said to the driver. "But I don't need the library. Could you just let me out please?" he asked as politely as he possibly could. The driver gave him a curious look but pulled over anyway. "Thank you," Darren said, handing over money for the driver's trouble and getting out of the cab.

He scrolled through Blaine's contacts as the man drove off, hoping beyond hope that Kurt might possibly be in there.

He wasn't.

Growling in frustration at the idea that Blaine may not even know Kurt in this reality, Darren wracked his brain for a memory of what was supposed to be Kurt's phone number. What he could remember was the five, five, five it started with but if this was a real world now, would it still start five, five, five? That was usually always used for phone numbers of fictional characters.

Then he had a brainwave. He could check the wiki! The Glee wiki had Kurt's number listed on his profile page. Or at least it did at one point.

Darren was halfway through typing the address into the internet browser on Blaine's phone when he remembered this was Blaine's reality. There would be no such thing as the Glee wiki. Another frustrated growl left him then. He clapped both hands to his head and thought as hard as he possibly could.

"Think Darren!" he told himself. "What were the last four digits of that number?"

"Excuse me," said a voice from behind him. Darren knew that voice, he recognized it fairly easily. "Are you all right?"

The man quickly spun around. "Le—Rachel!" he spit out, both remembering mid-name that this was the Glee universe and forgetting that if Blaine didn't know Kurt, why would he know Rachel?

But instead of looking creeped out, she beamed broadly. "Oh! You recognize me from Broadway!" Of course her first thought would be that he was a dedicated fan. Well, it worked in his favor in that it didn't make Blaine look like a creeper who stalked random people or something. But Rachel also went to NYADA so maybe he'd seen her there too. The girl in Blaine's apartment did say he went to NYADA, didn't she?

"Yeah, yeah, you're a real talent," he went with it, giving her praise and causing Rachel to beam all the more. He bit his lip hesitantly. "Can I…ask you something?"

"Awww, want my autograph and too shy to ask for it?" Rachel replied, already searching her bag for materials to sign an autograph for him.

Darren felt his face grow warm. "Um, no, not exactly." She looked up at him in surprise. "Though I wouldn't mind one," he rushed on. "But that's not what I wanted to ask you," he confirmed.

Rachel inclined her head to one side, a hand still in her bag, fishing for autograph materials. "Oh?" she said curiously. "Okay…" she added, trailing off. It was clear she had no idea what this was about and he suddenly likened her to the way Joey had reacted to his request for a favor. "What did you want to ask me?"

Darren wasn't sure how to put this exactly or what kind of response it would get out of her but she was right there and he needed to know the answer. He needed to find him and figure this all out.

"Where's Kurt?" Right, because people really appreciated you being blunt.

She furrowed her brow at him, frowning ever so slightly. "Kurt?" she asked in a confused voice and for one fleeting moment, Darren feared that maybe she actually didn't know Kurt either. "Wait, you don't mean Kurt Hummel do you?" she asked carefully and even with her tone, he knew this was worse than he thought. She spoke like someone who hadn't seen said person in a long time and that couldn't be right. Rachel was Kurt's best friend.

Suddenly not trusting his voice, he merely nodded his head. Rachel's face became sympathetic.

"Did you know him?" Know him. Like in past tense. Oh God, what happened? Was…was Kurt…dead?

"It's…complicated," he managed to get it. "He's…he's okay right?"

Rachel stared at him for a good long time. He got the sense that if Kurt had known him, she would have heard about it. "Who are you?" she asked finally.

He opened his mouth, about to answer his real name before he remembered himself. "Blaine Anderson."

"Hm, doesn't ring a bell," she stated, clear evidence that in this reality, Kurt and Blaine had indeed never even met. "Well Blaine Anderson, I hate to be the one to tell you this but Kurt Hummel is serving sixteen years in Ohio State Penitentiary for involuntary manslaughter."

Whatever he had been expecting to come out of her mouth, it most certainly hadn't been that. And Darren felt his heart drop into his stomach. Kurt was in prison. Kurt was behind bars. For murder. Okay, the lesser charge of involuntary manslaughter, but it was still murder.

"How—how long has he been there?" he asked in an unusually quiet voice.

"Two years," Rachel replied. "It happened in the middle of our senior year. Kurt was already eighteen when the incident happened so they tried him as an adult," she explained.

Their senior year. The year after Kurt was supposed to have met Blaine. Because he hadn't met Blaine, the bullying must have persisted and likely gotten worse. Which would mean that Karofsky never stopped nor did he transfer schools for their senior year. And if this was two years ago, it meant Rachel was in the middle of her sophomore year at NYADA.

"What um…what happened?" he asked, voice still quiet.

She shut her eyes and let out a sigh. "It was self-defense," she said. "That's why they lessened the charge to involuntary manslaughter." He knew that much but nodded his head anyway. He almost opened his mouth to ask if it was Karofsky but the last thing he needed was for her to wonder how some boy who she didn't know, not only claimed to know Kurt but also seemed to know details of his life. Yeah, Darren didn't fancy having the cops called on him. Especially when now he knew, he had to get to Ohio.

"Okay," was all he said instead.

Rachel glanced down at her watch. "I'm really sorry Blaine but I must be going. Rehearsals to get to," she said and offered him a smile.

"Er…right, sure," he said lamely. "I'll see you round."

"Perhaps you will," she replied with another megawatt grin. "And Blaine?"

"Yeah?"

"Forget about Kurt okay? No one will be worrying about him until he's released either in fourteen years or early for good behavior," she said and Darren felt a surge of anger flood through his veins. How could Rachel just shrug Kurt off like that? Wasn't he her best friend? But then he remembered the whole presidential election feud at the start of season three. What if in this reality, they had never patched things up after that? Or if Kurt never ran for president? Wait, if Kurt didn't know Blaine, did that mean he got to play Tony?

So many questions burned in his mind but instead, he merely gave her a nod. Again, revealing too much would make him look like some sort of creepy stalker. She returned the nod and turned, walking off down the street without another word.

Now there was just one thing left on Darren's mind. How in the world was he going to get to Ohio?


	3. Chapter Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is shorter than the first two but I felt like it was necessary. No Darren in this chapter. You'll understand immediately. This chapter is the first written by another POV to give insight elsewhere. You'll see what I mean. ;)
> 
> Again, thanks to ChrisCalledMeSweetie for requesting this. It's so far been fun to write.
> 
> As always, comments and kudos make me smile. Enjoy!

Ohio State Penitentiary was the big house. The big house of Ohio. Kurt was stuck here. For a possible fourteen more years. All that reverberated in the twenty year old's mind was good behavior. With good behavior, he could maybe get out in another four years.

It really wasn't too hard. After all, Kurt was by no means a violent person. He'd only killed Karofsky in self defense. But the fact still remained that he killed someone.

Hands gripped the bars of his cell as he stared out at the block as a whole. How had he gotten to this point? How had he gone from telling Santana Lopez that he wasn't a violent person to spending two years behind bars with another possible fourteen in front of him? His knuckles, already pale to begin with, were stark white with how hard he was gripping the rusted metal that blocked his path to freely wander around the prison.

He knew the answer to that question. Knew it very well. Because unlike other gay bash victims, when it came to life or death, the only thing that had crossed Kurt's mind at the time was that it was either him or Karofsky. And Kurt would be damned if he let the bully kill him. He couldn't do that to his dad. Despite how depressed and under it he felt, Kurt was well aware that he did have people who cared about him and his dad had already suffered one heart attack.

Now though, the pale prisoner had had plenty of time to think about the situation he'd gotten himself in. Really, which was worse? Him being killed by the bully or him being stuck behind bars for sixteen years with the only chance of seeing his loved ones through a television monitor and a telephone receiver that connected him to the outside world?

If Kurt had his way, he would have chosen neither. If there was some way things could have ended differently, he would take a time machine to the past to make it happen. But that wasn't possible. And what was done was done.

"Hummel," grunted a familiar voice. Kurt looked up from his musing, hands still gripping the bars, noticing the guard standing in front of his cell, fiddling with his key ring. "You have a visitor call," he went on gruffly.

The twenty year old was confused. His dad and Carole usually came to visit him every other day. But they had just been there the day before. So there was no reason why he should have a visitor now.

Deciding not to make a total case out of it, Kurt straightened the collar on his prison issued uniform shirt and stepped out of the cell as the guard clanged the door open. The man said nothing as he lead Kurt down the row to the stairs at the end of the block. Living up on the third floor of cells got kind of lonely because there were few people up there.

Silently they walked, Kurt shutting out the jeering of the other prisoners as they passed. He was used to this by now. After two years of even worse taunting than he had endured in school, nothing seemed to shake the pale man to his core anymore. He wasn't going to get away from it. Or that big guy Henry in the showers who always checked if Kurt had finally forgotten to bring his soap on a rope. He didn't seem to get that the twenty year old was gay, not stupid. He'd be damned if he lost his virginity in prison.

As they walked, he wracked his brain for anything that could have explained the visitor call. Wait, what was the date? Being in prison kind of blurred the days together and you didn't always know how much time had passed. Nor did he really care anymore though.

"What day is it?" he asked.

"Sunday," grunted the guard. Kurt rolled his eyes, glad the man wasn't facing him. Well, that was helpful.

"Thanks but I meant the date," he said as politely as he could. Kurt had learned very quickly that sarcasm in prison got you in trouble and he was careful to check his attitude and phrasing after that.

There was another grunt and then, "April twenty-seventh," the guard said.

Twenty-seventh, twenty-seventh. Why was that number so important? Other than the fact that it meant he had exactly one month left before he turned twenty-one. Spectacular. Kurt's twenty-first birthday was a month a way and he would be spending it in prison. He let out a sigh.

However, it was precisely that reminder that told him why the twenty-seventh was important and he perked up. Santana had made it a point starting on his twentieth birthday to show up once a month on the twenty-seventh and bring him life saving products. That's who his visitor was. He'd forgotten because after she had moved to New York City full time with Brittany and joining Rachel, she wasn't always able to fly back out to Ohio once a month.

Kurt felt his mood dramatically improve as he was lead to the visitor monitors. It had been a couple of months since Santana had last shown up.

The guard pointed to one and the pale man could already see his friend's face on the screen, waiting for him. He moved over to the chair, dropped down into it, and picked up the phone.

"Well aren't you a sight for sore eyes," he said, genuinely smiling. Santana laughed lightly, her features settling into a smirk that was classic Santana Lopez.

"We both know how you love my assets Lady Hummel," she replied in good humor before turning serious. "Sorry I haven't been able to make it out here in a few months. Britts and I have been busy."

He nodded his head in understanding. "Don't worry about it. You're here now right?" She laughed again. "So, what's up?" he asked then, knowing he was only going to have maybe a half hour at most if he was lucky, but usually no more than fifteen minutes. It depended how busy the visitor hall was. They were given anywhere between ten and thirty minutes with their visitors. Of course, that also depended on the status of the prisoner.

"The usual. I brought a replenished supply." Kurt gave her a grateful look. "Also, I'm sorry to inform you that I might not make it for your birthday next month," she added with a frown.

"It's okay. My parents will probably be here. Not like it's worth celebrating anyway," he said.

"Kurt, it's your twenty-first birthday." And you knew the matter was serious business when Santana used your first name rather than your last or some nickname she had invented for you.

A harsh sigh broke his lips. "Yeah, and I'm spending it in prison. What's worth celebrating about that?"

She gave him a short frown and said nothing. Santana was well aware that he didn't want her sympathy. Not that she was the type prone to give it anyway but that was beside the point. She felt bad that he was stuck in prison spending the better part of his golden years behind bars. Unless he got out early for good behavior, Kurt would be in his thirties by the time he was set out in the world to make a life for himself and the first step to that would be getting his GED.

So instead, she changed the topic. "Do you know anyone named Blaine Anderson?" she asked, catching Kurt completely off-guard.

He stared at her for a long moment. "Not personally no. But the name sounds familiar." He couldn't put his finger on it but he swore he had heard that name somewhere before or seen it somewhere or something. He didn't know anyone by that name but it felt like he recognized it from something but he couldn't figure out what. "Why do you ask?" he pressed, wondering what this was all about.

Santana bit her lip, an unusual action for the Latina. "Berry called me this morning," she said slowly. Kurt could feel the discomfort building in his body. Rachel Berry. When the incident that had taken away his freedom had happened, he and his former best friend were not in a good place.

"Oh?" he asked finally. "What does that have to do with this mysterious Blaine Anderson?"

"She ran into him. Blaine Anderson. Apparently, he seemed to know you, even though you don't know him," Santana told him, causing Kurt's expression to morph into something of alarm. How the hell did this Blaine Anderson know Kurt when he was sure they had never met before? "He asked her where you were."

Kurt scoffed at that, letting out a short guffaw. "That's a little point blank for someone I don't even know to wonder," he said sarcastically. "And if he knows me so well, he would know where I was already," he added.

But as far as he knew, the only people who would recognize him were the kids from McKinley High School and his family. Though he was pretty sure he had been on the news likely so anyone who didn't know him personally would have seen the brief. This Blaine guy neither went to McKinley - and Kurt was sure of that because he didn't recall seeing the name in any edition of the Thunderclap - nor apparently watched the news. So how did he know Kurt but not know where he was?

"My guess is he's delusional," he finally spoke again. "He must have been thinking of some other Kurt." But even as he said it, he could feel that it wasn't the truth. Somehow, he knew this Blaine Anderson was thinking of him but he wasn't quite sure how that was.

"Possibly," she replied. Before the conversation could progress any further though, Kurt felt a tap on his shoulder, the guard telling him to wrap things up. He let out a sigh.

"Well it looks like they're going to end things on the short side today," he told her. Santana gave her head a short nod.

"See you around Hummel. I'll try to make it back again as soon as I can. Don't forget your soap on a rope," she said, snickering at the end of the statement.

"Don't worry, I always have that," he replied smugly. "And thanks to you, it's fantastic smelling soap since I can't have actual body wash."

"Because that's not gay at all," she teased. Kurt rolled his eyes.

"Shut up dyke," he said, causing Santana to laugh. "See you soon?"

"As soon as I possibly can Porcelain," came her reply. Kurt nodded, mouthed good-bye, and hung up the phone just as he saw Santana do the same. He turned to the guard and nodded his head, standing from the seat. He knew Santana's gifts would be deposited to his cell after they had been thoroughly checked over and approved by prison staff.

The walk back to his cell was done in a whirlwind of thought. Who was this Blaine Anderson? He knew he had never met anyone of that name before but than why did it sound so familiar? He found himself muttering the name over and over again under his breath, trying to figure out if saying it aloud would spark any memory of why it seemed familiar. But he was having no luck.

"You wanna share your muttering with the class Hummel?" the guard grunted, startling Kurt out of his thoughts.

"It's nothing. My friend just said somebody named Blaine Anderson was asking about me. I don't know anyone by that name, but it sounds familiar," he explained. Though he wouldn't usually display his personal business to a guard - privacy was something you had to hang onto tightly in place like prison, you didn't really get much of it - this was one he got on well with. Almost had a friendship even.

The guard was silent for a few moments, thinking to himself apparently. "I have a lawyer friend named Richard Anderson. He has a nephew named Blaine. He used to go to Dalton Academy," he said and Kurt realized he was trying to be helpful.

"Dalton Academy?" he repeated. He knew that name. New Directions had competed against them three times in his high school career. Twice in his junior year and once in his senior year. He thought they competed against them again the following year but he wasn't sure.

The guard nodded as he lead Kurt back up the stairs. "Yeah. He was the star of their glee club, the Warblers. He's a freshman in college now," he said casually.

And then it clicked. That was where he recognized the name from. It was in the program for Sectionals and Regionals his junior year. Top of the list under The Dalton Academy Warblers. If only he could get a hold of Santana now. She could relay this information to Rachel who would likely recognize him when the bell clicked in her head too.

But he was in prison and unfortunately, his only means of contacting Santana now until she visited again was by sending her a letter. And he didn't have her New York address. He'd never asked her for it.

The guard unlocked his cell and Kurt stepped in, resigned to the fact that he had no way of sharing this information with his friends at all. He barely registered the loud clang of the cell gate as the guard slid it shut again.

Allowing a sigh to fall, Kurt dropped down onto his bed and tucked his hands behind his head, lying back and staring up at the ceiling. The day had been nothing out of the ordinary but for once, it had given him something to think about.


	4. Chapter Three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the shortest chapter so far and I apologize but I didn't want to put in Darren at the airport and all this stuff together in one chapter. It wouldn't have flowed right and might have seemed to be a run on chapter. So you get this as kind of a bridge. Maybe I can call it a two part chapter.
> 
> Thanks again to ChrisCalledMeSweetie for the inspiration and request of this story.
> 
> Comments and kudos make me smile. Enjoy!

It took a return to Blaine's apartment and another glance at the unfamiliar male roommate watching Saturday morning cartoons for Darren to realize it was Sunday. He gave the guy a strange look.

"What?" the guy asked around a mouthful of cereal. This action may not have bothered Darren but he wasn't supposed to be Darren so he forced himself to wrinkle his nose in disgust. It wasn't too hard. He'd been playing Blaine for four years.

"First off, don't talk with your mouth full please, it's disgusting," he said, Blaine coming ever so naturally to him, despite the fact that these weren't scripted lines. "Second, how are you watching Saturday morning cartoons on a Sunday?"

The guy shrugged. "DVR," he replied simply before shoveling more cereal into his mouth. Darren had to wonder how many bowls this guy had already eaten. The way he was going at it now, there no possible way this was the same bowl he'd been eating when he had left the apartment. "Why did you go out in pajamas?"

Darren startled and looked back at the guy who was looking at him with an eyebrow raised. It did dawn on him that going out in his pajamas was not something Blaine was likely to do but this was necessary.

"I had an emergency," he replied swiftly, starting to head for Blaine's room.

"Did you fix it?" the guy called after him.

"Not really," was all Darren said. And to himself, he added, "But I'm working on it." And it was true.

Once inside Blaine's room, Darren shut the door firmly behind him and moved to the desk. He'd worry about getting showered and dressed later. Right now, he had to book a ticket to Ohio right away. He was under the impression that he needed to fix this world where Kurt and Blaine had never met. He'd never even imagined that somewhere there was a timeline for them like that. Darren had always assumed TV shows had just their one timeline. Apparently, he was wrong.

When he powered on the laptop, he half expected to see a picture of Blaine and Kurt together, maybe with Kurt showing off the engagement ring because that was what he imagined would be Blaine's wallpaper. But of course it wasn't. Instead, he found himself staring at a picture of Blaine with his two so far unidentified roommates standing on either side of him. Blaine and the guy were both dressed in a cap and gown. The girl was wearing a short slightly frilly dress and he was thinking just then that Kurt probably would not have approved of it.

After staring at the wallpaper for an indeterminate amount of time, he finally clicked on the browser. Google was apparently Blaine's homepage, which Darren thought was weird. He ignored it however and clicked on the address bar to type in the address for a website where he could book a plane ticket.

As he waited for the page to load, he pulled Blaine's wallet back out of the jacket pocket and extracted a credit card. That was when he froze. He didn't have a clue what Blaine's credit card information was. And if he couldn't figure that out, there was no way he could purchase a plane ticket online.

Darren let out a frustrated sigh and ran his hands through his hair. Why was this so complicated? Why hadn't he been dropped into this fictitious world with Blaine's memories intact? Maybe that was part of the adventure, learning about Blaine in a way he had never actually known him.

Still frustrated, he reluctantly shut off the laptop and got up. It looked like he was going to have to go to the airport to physically purchase a ticket in person. At least than all he would have to do would be to sign the credit card receipt and that wouldn't be too bad.

Getting up from the desk chair, he moved to Blaine's closet to pull out some clothes. At least dressing like Blaine wouldn't be too uncomfortable for him. He'd already admitted to the fact that some of Blaine's clothes were things he would have bought himself outside of work. So dressing like Blaine wasn't an issue. The hair on the other hand…that could be a problem. Instinctively, he decided that Blaine was out of high school, it was time he changed his look up a bit.

The first thing Darren recognized was the white polo and the yellow pants that he had worn during the scene in the courtyard for the first episode of season five. He tugged the clothes out of the closet and went looking for where Blaine might have stashed his bow ties to see if he could find the one he had worn with the outfit that day. It turned out not to be too hard. It seemed that even though he didn't have Blaine's memories, he knew enough about his own character to get a feel for where he might put things.

Folding the clothes neatly in his arms and dropping the bow tie on top of the pile, he made his way quickly toward the bathroom.

"Anyone need to use the restroom? I'm going to take a shower!" he called out. Common courtesy when you were sharing a bathroom with other people.

His replies were an answer in the negative from the kitchen and a mere grunt from the living room. Darren rolled his eyes. How could Blaine live with these people?

He entered the bathroom and set the clothes neatly on the counter before reaching in to turn on the spray and adjusting the nozzle. Then he stripped himself down and stepped in under the steamy hot water.

Darren hadn't realized how badly the shower in his own apartment needed maintenance until he felt the firm pressure and satisfying heat of the water in Blaine's bathroom. This boy could afford better than him and Darren had a successful actor's salary. He was beginning to think that Blaine's family were much more well off than the show presented to people. But than, Blaine was also living with two other people who, might possibly be well off too.

It was no secret that Blaine had probably stayed at Dalton. Without a relationship with Kurt to drag him to McKinley, he had no reason to leave his safe haven of a school. Blaine had told Kurt that tuition for Dalton was steep, which pretty much gave the indication that most who went there were from wealthy families. By comparison, their sister school Crawford Country Day was likely the same.

That's when it hit him. As he was lathering his hair, the realization that in this reality, Dalton Academy and McKinley High School were real schools that really existed in the likes of Lima and Westerville was nearly too much to bear. In his world they had only ever been sets built on a Los Angeles sound stage. Sets that had long since been struck down when the Ohio side of the show was cut completely in preparation for closing out the series at the end of season six.

The idea that he may have the opportunity to walk through the hallowed halls of both these schools for real was a big notion and he swallowed the bit of nostalgia rising in his throat. He couldn't visit McKinley though. He had no reason to. Blaine had never gone there. But that didn't stop him from wanting to.

However, his thoughts drifted back to Kurt and shoved the desire to visit these schools down into his gut. His priority right now was to find Kurt, not visit schools that were completely fictional in his reality.

Mind back on track, Darren finished washing his hair and body and stepped out of the shower, grabbing a towel to swing low on his hips.

Deciding he needed to do something about the hair first, he approached the bathroom mirror and gazed upon himself as Blaine for the first time. He looked around eighteen or nineteen, which was how old Blaine was supposed to be now. It was weird because becoming Blaine had somehow shaved a full eight or nine years from his very being, his actual age being twenty-seven.

He stared for a moment longer before he shook himself off and pulled open the medicine cabinet. As he expected, there was a tub of gel in there. Blaine kept his gel in the most convenient places. He wouldn't be surprised if there was another tub in his bedside table drawer. And it was raspberry scented of course.

A sigh broke his lips as he opened the tub and frowned. It was half empty. Good God Blaine used a shit ton of gel. Well now, even if the gel wasn't his ideal product for style, Darren was going to teach Blaine how to use it his way. And that was perfecting taming the curls down without trapping them under that familiar gelmet. It was an art he had perfected himself since he'd cut off the fro.

Within minutes, he'd succeeded in successfully taming the curls without Blaine's usual mass amount of gel to trap them all down, straightening them out. Grinning at himself in the mirror he checked his jaw for scruff and found none, immediately relieved he had shaved recently that he didn't even find a five o'clock shadow. But also, he was much older than Blaine so maybe Blaine's scruff issues hadn't really kicked in yet.

He turned from the mirror and grabbed the pair of boxer-briefs he had found in Blaine's dresser. So, he at least didn't wear tighty-whities. Smirking, he quickly stepped into the underwear and removed the towel from his waist before proceeding with the rest of the outfit.

Bow tie in place and feet still bare, Darren hung the towel up and left the bathroom, quietly returning to Blaine's room where he grabbed a pair of loafers and slipped them on his feet before searching in the closet for a suitcase.

When he located Blaine's luggage, he carefully took his time packing it as he expected Blaine wouldn't be a sloppy packer, even if Darren himself much preferred to just toss things into a duffle bag. The point was he wasn't Darren. He was supposed to be Blaine.

As such, the packing took longer than he hoped. He wasn't sure how much he was going to need because he didn't have the slightest clue how long he was going to be in Ohio. But he figured it was better to be safe than sorry.

Grabbing his jacket and making sure the keys, wallet, and cell phone were in the pockets, he grabbed the suitcase and headed from the room.

By the time he reached the living room, the girl was sitting on the couch with an omelet and the guy was dozing, his cereal bowl still in his hands. The girl raised an eyebrow as Darren made his way to the door, pulling Blaine's luggage behind him.

"Where are you going on such short notice?" she asked.

"Family emergency," he replied thinking on his toes. She gave him a strange look. Darren worried that maybe Blaine wouldn't be bothered in the event of a family emergency. "I have to go to Ohio immediately," he added.

She regarded him for a moment. "When will you be back?"

"I don't know," he said honestly. A sigh met his words.

"Well I'll notify your teachers than. I hope everything is okay Blaine," she replied, tone both resolved and sympathetic.

"Thank you. And it will be," he said turning to leave the apartment. The guy must have woken up from his doze fore as he was opening the door, Darren heard him talking to the girl.

"What was that all about?" the guy asked.

"I don't know. He's been acting weird all day." That was the last he heard of the conversation before he shut the door behind him.


	5. Chapter Four

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enter Brittany S. Pierce! Because I have fun writing her. After Kurt and Blaine, she's my favorite because I think she's hilarious! Anyway, this chapter takes place at the airport obviously. :P We're getting closer to Darren finding Kurt. Meanwhile Darren's starting to realize that he may have more than platonic feelings for Chris and also that his sense of self is starting to become fuzzy.
> 
> Uh oh. What is going to happen to Darren? Will he ever be Darren again? Or is he doomed for an eternity as the fictional Blaine Anderson? Mwuahahahaha.
> 
> As always thanks to ChrisCalledMeSweetie for prompting this idea and being one of my biggest supporters with it.
> 
> Comments and kudos still make me smile. Enjoy!

If Darren thought things would be easygoing when he got to the airport, he was wrong. JFK was chaotic in his own reality but this was ridiculous. It seemed like everyone and their cousin had decided to fly out of New York that day. At least it was the same route to get to it. And he had been a little bit surprised when on the way there, they'd passed the fictional Spotlight Diner where Kurt, Rachel, Santana, and Dani worked. He was half-tempted to see if two of them still worked there in this reality. But the desire was pushed down. There were more important things.

Half an hour after he had arrived at JFK, Darren was still waiting in line to buy a ticket. This was ridiculous. He wondered if he should have gone to La Guardia instead but too late now. And it wasn't like he was on a schedule.

"I don't have a ticket mister security guard," came the sound of a familiar voice and the curly haired man turned his head. Sure enough, there was a tall blonde grinning broadly at security which happened to just be beside the ticket booths. "I'm supposed to meet Sanny at her gate."

Brittany. Darren was slightly caught off-guard seeing a blonde who he knew as Heather Morris in real life but was quite obviously Brittany S. Pierce in this one. Wait. She said something about meeting Sanny at her gate. Did that mean Santana was flying into JFK? From where? How many of the characters actually did still make it to New York?

"And I'm telling you, you can't move passed this checkpoint without a boarding pass," the security guard said gruffly, clearly annoyed. "How much air do you have in your head blondie?"

That was a final straw. Regardless of the fact that he knew he was going to have to get right back in line, Darren moved out of place and hurried over to where the two were.

"Excuse you," he said to the guard. "But that's extremely disrespectful, not to mention stereotyping," he said. Brittany turned to look at him and he noticed she was carrying a stuffed unicorn in her arms. The security guard glowered.

"What's it to you fag?" he muttered. The curly haired man felt anger bubble within him. He knew there were haters everywhere but staff in a New York airport was not where he expected to find one exercising that hate. He was about to tell the man off for it and notify him that he was not gay when he remembered that he was supposed to be Blaine and Blaine was definitely gay.

Instead, he opened his mouth when a woman who appeared to be higher up approached them.

"Is there a problem here?" she asked.

Before the guard could say anything, Darren opened his mouth and spoke up. "Yes, this security guard has been disrespectful, discriminatory, and stereotypical. He asked this young lady how much air she had in her head and called me a fag outright," he said, priding himself on how much he was sounding like Blaine. Good thing he'd been playing the character for so long.

The woman narrowed her eyes at the guard. "You're dismissed. I'll discuss this with you later." The guard gave both Darren and Brittany a look that would probably have killed them if looks could kill. But the curly haired man held his ground. "Sorry for the inconvenience. Is there anything I can do to make it up to you?" the woman went on.

Brittany beat him to reply. "Yes. My name is Brittany S. Pierce and my girlfriend Sanny is flying back here today. She was supposed to go visit my dolphin in prison." Dolphin in prison? Darren's eyes went wide after a moment as realization hit him. Santana had gone to Ohio to visit Kurt! "She wants me to meet her at the gate but I don't have a plane ticket."

Though obviously confused by her choice of words, the woman rubbed her chin in thought for a moment. "She explicitly said to meet her at the gate?" she asked and Brittany nodded her blonde head. "I'll see what I can do." She turned to face Darren. "And you?"

"Oh, I was actually in line to buy a plane ticket to Columbus. Now I have to wait all over again I suppose," he said with a sigh.

"No you don't," the woman told him. "Come with me and I'll get you squared away." She offered him a smile which he couldn't help but return. She was rather nice and immensely accommodating. And hey, if it meant he wouldn't be waiting another half-hour to forty-five minutes just to buy a plane ticket, he wasn't going to pass it up.

She lead both of them over to a counter where she told Brittany to have a seat and turned back to Darren.

"Okay, let's see," she said, drawing up flights on the computer. "There's a flight leaving for Columbus in about two hours time. There are still seats available. Shall I book you one?" she asked.

"That's perfect, thank you," he replied, pulling Blaine's credit card out of the wallet and handing it over. She smiled at him as she swiped the card and waited a moment before handing it back. A few moments later she handed him a boarding pass, along with a receipt.

"I just need your signature and then you're good to go Mr. Anderson," she told him, still smiling. It felt weird being called by Blaine's name. But he did his best not to show how awkward he felt about it.

He took the receipt and the pen she offered him and hastily scrawled Blaine's signature across the bottom on the dotted line before handing both back. She smiled once more before turning her attention to Brittany.

Darren wanted to stay and see if things worked out for Brittany but it was better to make the pass through security now, especially with the airport so crowded. It might take a bit longer than he was used to. So instead, he gave the girl a nod and made his way back toward security, where a new guard had been stationed and took his boarding pass and ID with a warm smile.

As he went through the motions of taking off his shoes and belt and putting everything in the bins to pass through security for inspection, Darren let his mind wander.

Santana was coming from Ohio. She'd been visiting the prison at which Kurt was being held. He was sure of it. What other reason did Santana have to visit a prison in Ohio? Maybe relatives, though that only crossed his mind because he remembered Sebastian's jibe in the Michael episode of season three. But if she was living in New York, would she really feel obligated to fly all the way back to Ohio to see incarcerated family? He got the impression that aside from her abuela and her mom, Santana wasn't extremely close to her family. In fact, she was overwhelmingly upset when her abuela disowned her for being a lesbian.

So, unless there was something he didn't know, something Naya didn't even know because it had never been revealed, he thought it was a safe bet to think Santana had been to visit Kurt. That indicated that she and Kurt must have bonded a lot closer in this reality than the one he was used to. Something didn't add up.

His brain was on quick drive and the motions he was performing passed as a blur and the next time Darren came back to reality from wherever his thoughts had carried him off, it was to find himself walking toward the gate, having successfully passed through security. And to the chirped voice of someone trying to get his attention.

"Hi dolphin!" Darren startled.

"Huh?" he said. He turned to see Brittany grinning at him. So the woman must have made an exception for her to pass through even though she wasn't flying anywhere. "Oh, hi," he said lamely, abruptly cutting himself off before he did something stupid like addressing her by name. Knowing Rachel's name when he wasn't supposed to actually know her could be easily covered but not Brittany. Though given the way Brittany was, the whole thing might just go over her head.

"So you are a dolphin than?" she asked, inclining her blonde head to one side and clutching the stuffed unicorn ever tighter.

While he knew what she meant by that, he reminded himself that this Blaine had no idea. He'd never met Brittany or been introduced to her unusual way of thinking.

"I'm sorry, what?" he asked, doing his best to sound genuinely confused, though he realized it wasn't really that hard. Darren had never actually thought about how he would react if he ever met anyone like Brittany. The character was a hoot to watch on TV but when actually faced with her, your mind kind of got boggled. He had to give all the kids in New Directions credit for putting up with it, particularly Santana.

Brittany seemed unperturbed by his questioning answer. "A dolphin," she repeated as casually as if they had been discussing the weather. "You know, a boy who likes other boys? Or in my case, a girl who likes other girls. Well, I'm half-dolphin actually, but still," she explained.

And this was exactly why Brittany made him laugh, but he held his tongue, not wanting her to maybe think he was laughing at her. Though he wasn't sure she would arrive at that conclusion. This was Brittany after all.

"Oh um, yeah. I guess you can say I'm a dolphin," he replied. Slipping into Blaine was becoming easier the longer he portrayed the character. But at the same time, his own sense of self seemed to be slowly slipping away and wait, was that meant to happen?

Darren firmly reminded himself that he was not really Blaine Anderson. He was Darren Criss, an actor who played Blaine Anderson on a fictional television series called Glee. The curly haired man promptly stamped that thought into his mind, determined to keep it at the surface at all times. He turned back to Brittany and held out a hand.

"My name's Blaine," he said, mentally kicking himself for how exact that sounded to the first time he'd ever said that line on screen. His brain became full of images of Blaine's Dalton days and the first time he had seen Chris arrive on that staircase. How incredibly flushed the younger man had been given the details of their upcoming storyline. How excited he was to work with Darren because he was a fan of the Harry Potter musicals. How incredibly beautiful he had been just standing there in all his Kurt poised grace and…

Wait, what? The man shook his head off, trying to shake the odd wandering thoughts of Chris from his head as he realized Brittany had eagerly grabbed a hold of his proffered hand.

"Hi Blaine!" she said excitedly. Oh yeah, he was talking to Brittany this time. Not Kurt. He ignored the stab of disappointment in his gut. "I'm Brittany S. Pierce!" she introduced. "So you're going to Ohio?" she chirped.

Darren nodded. "Yeah," he confirmed. "Family emergency." There was no way he was going to tell her that he was going to look for Kurt. It had been bad enough trying to avoid Rachel's questioning when he seemingly knew a boy who didn't know him. He wasn't going to take anymore chances.

"You're from Ohio?" she asked as though it were the most interesting statement she had ever heard. Her eyes were big and bright and smiley, just like Brittany herself usually was. He nodded. "I thought Sanny and Kurtie and I were the only dolphins out of water in all of Ohio!"

Kurt. So she still knew Kurt. That seemed to reaffirm his suspicions that Santana must have gone to visit him and he felt himself start to relax just a bit. Except not enough to stop his words from connecting to his brain.

"You know Kurt?" he said without thinking. However, it seemed to go over her head as she continued the conversation as though nothing odd had been brought up.

"Of course I do silly. I was his beard in sophomore year until he decided to shave me off," she replied, frowning slightly. Darren had never liked it when Brittany frowned, though the way she had phrased that made him once again want to laugh. "He was trying to get closer to his dad, so he needed a beard. That's how he got me. And mind you, my dolphin has soft lips even if he does prefer to use them on other dolphins."

Soft lips. Right. Of course that very statement had him thinking of all the takes for kissing scenes he and Chris had gone through. Chris did have soft lips. He knew he used Chapstick a lot. But the point was, they were so soft, Darren had more than once fantasized what it might be like to kiss Chris' lips and not Kurt's. To separate the actor from the character. To unravel the pale man as they rolled around on his bed, sucking and nipping at each other's lips and begging entrance with their tongues.

He had to give himself another mental shake. No. He couldn't think about Chris that way. He was his best friend. And Darren was straight, with a girlfriend. And Chris had—oh right, he was single now. It was weird. Everyone had been so sure that Chris and Will were forever. And at the same time, everyone was so sure that Darren and Mia would be ended permanently eventually. They'd been together so long and hadn't even taken that next step. Even as he thought about it, one word crossed Darren's mind.

Why?

He loved Mia. He was sure he did. She was amazing and she supported him in everything, even playing a gay character on television. But he had never once even thought about the idea of marrying her. What he had with Mia was nice…but it didn't feel like forever. A part of him was holding back because something wasn't latching into place.

A something that he was beginning to realize was being filled whenever he let his thoughts roam to Chris. The thought both thrilled and terrified him.

"…and that's why my dolphin is in prison," he caught Brittany saying, feeling slightly embarrassed that his thoughts had occupied his mind so thoroughly he hadn't even realized that she was talking.

"Oh, I'm so sorry to hear that," he said, hopefully conveying believably that he had been listening the entire time but probably completely failing. Good thing this was Brittany. She likely wouldn't even notice the fact that he hadn't been paying attention.

"Yeah. But Sanny visits him for us and he has a chance to get out earlier if he behaves himself and eats all his vegetables." She looked off with a dazed expression on her face. It became clear to Darren that she must think being in prison was a lot like living with your parents. But than, who wanted to try and explain something so dank to Brittany? Let her keep her preconceived expectations. He would not be the one to burst her bubble.

It was at that point that they reached the gate where Darren's flight would be boarding from and he turned to look at her with a soft smile. "This is me," he said nodding his head at the gate.

Brittany turned to look at it with slight confusion. "It doesn't look like you," she said with a shake of her blonde head.

Again, Darren held his laughter. "No Brittany. I meant this is my gate. It's where my flight will board."

"Oh," she said as she realized what he meant. "I think it's where Sanny's flight is landing too." She plopped herself into a seat with a big smile on her face.

Well, maybe this wouldn't be so bad.


	6. Chapter Five

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so this chapter ended up coming out extremely informative as Darren continues to make realizations about this new Glee reality. It's like they say, one small change can produce a whole new world. And he's beginning to realize that Blaine and Kurt not meeting had changed a whole bunch of things. You'll see when you read it!
> 
> I know I know, I haven't gotten to them even meeting yet but I have to make sure the story plays out naturally.
> 
> As always thanks to ChrisCalledMeSweetie for the idea. It's an awesome one!
> 
> Comments and kudos make me smile. Enjoy!

Talking directly to Santana was the strangest thing Darren had felt since he had been here. She was overtly suspicious of him and calling him sexy hobbit but than, that seemed to be a thing with Santana. She relaxed a bit when he assured her he was gay. Or rather that Blaine was gay.

Brittany waved enthusiastically with a big smile on her face as Santana dragged her off and Darren was left alone. It was only a few minutes later when they started boarding.

Sitting in his window seat and staring out of the window, he had a lot of time to reflect on the situation at hand. Kurt was in prison. Santana had just been to visit him. Blaine lived with two people Darren didn't know. And no one that Blaine did know actually knew him in this reality. He had to keep himself in check.

He found himself wondering what Chris would think of this whole scenario, the reality of Kurt not knowing Blaine. But then he figured that Chris would either think him crazy or ask if he'd been reading the fan fics again. Because this sounded like something a fan would write in a fic. But this wasn't a fic, it was real life. He was still adjusting.

His mind was such a swirl of thoughts, it was exhausting and by the time the plane reached the runway, he was already out cold.

It wasn't until he was being gently shaken by a flight attendant to tell him they had landed that the curly haired man realized they had even left New York. It took him a moment to remember where he was as his first thought was wondering what he was doing on an airplane. Unfortunately, he was still Blaine and falling asleep on the flight had not brought him back to his bed in the apartment he shared with Joey.

Oh shit! Joey. The man must be going nuts with the fact that Darren seemed to have just vanished into thin air. Or was he really still asleep in his room and this whole adventure was just a really vivid dream? But people didn't get tired in a dream and you certainly couldn't fall asleep and wake up in the same place in a dream. So it had to be real.

He needed Joey to know he was okay, so he powered Blaine's cell phone back on before collecting his luggage and moving to follow the other passengers off the plane.

He was halfway through tapping in Joey's number when a feeling of sudden dread washed over him. What if Joey didn't exist in this world? Lea and Chris and all the other Glee cast members obviously didn't. And there was the fact that Joey had had a cameo as one of Adam's Apples on the show so it was highly likely that Joey wasn't Joey but whoever that guy was supposed to be. In which case, he had no idea who would answer the phone.

A sigh fell from his lips as he aborted the mission again. He needed to stop making realizations that lead to such things of not carrying through with what he had intended to do. Blaine's world was obviously a whole new ball game.

But wait, maybe Joey wasn't Joey here, but surely Lauren was Lauren. Darren hastily started tapping in the phone number for one Lauren Lopez, feeling a squick in his gut when he realized she had both the first name and the last name of characters on Glee. It was like if Lauren Zizes and Santana Lopez were to get married. Okay…that was a very scary thought.

Swallowing heavily, and quickening his step out of nervousness, Darren put the phone to his ear, listening to it ring.

"Hello?" picked up an all too familiar voice. Relief washed over him. Lauren was still Lauren.

"Lauren? It's Darren. Listen something really weird is—" She cut him off.

"I think you have a wrong number dude," she said. His face fell. Was this not Lauren's number? And was this not her voice? "My name isn't Lauren and I don't know anyone named Darren."

His whole world spun out of control and went crashing to the floor. He froze stock still in the middle of the Columbus airport and stared ahead of him with wide fearful eyes. Her name wasn't Lauren. She had the same number but she wasn't Lauren. It seemed that even people who had never had a cameo on Glee weren't who he thought they were.

A new fear welled in his gut. But than, what about his parents? And Chuck? And Mia? Were they all completely other people? Darren couldn't call his parents. His real parents. If what who he thought was Lauren had said was anything to go by, they would tell him they didn't have a son named Darren. And the numbers marked mom and dad in Blaine's phone would reach the Andersons who technically didn't really exist.

But then a new thought crossed his mind and he hung up on Lauren without another word to call Blaine's mother. She didn't need to know that Blaine was usually a dapper gentleman and it would be out of character for him to hang up without so much as a good-bye. But he had to see something.

"Blaine?" came the voice through the line, shocking Darren who didn't even remember actually making the call but as he heard it, his thoughts were confirmed. Blaine's parents had never been introduced in the show so there was no visual for what they might look like. That made it completely logical.

The voice on the other end of the line was that of Cerina Criss. Darren's own mother.

He licked his lips, trying to remember that her name probably wasn't Cerina. She was supposed to be Blaine's mother, an entirely different person. But if his real parents were now Blaine's parents, what had happened to Chuck? Clearly, he wouldn't be Cooper because Cooper had a face to the name. Matt Bomer was Cooper. So who was Chuck?

"Blaine?" she repeated sternly and Darren realized he'd been completely silent on the phone as his head sifted through its never ending stream of musings.

"Yeah mom, sorry," he said. "Just got a little distracted."

She was quiet for a moment. "By a nice girl?" she finally said and Darren cringed. It was so weird to hear something like that come out of his mother's mouth. Like himself, the rest of the Criss family was LGBTQ supportive. What did you expect from San Franciscans? But he knew Blaine's parents had always struggled with accepting his sexuality, particularly his father.

He let out a breath, trying to maintain his composure before he replied.

"No mom. I just have a lot on my mind," he replied. That was logical.

When she spoke again, he could hear the disappointment in her tone and he felt like he was going to be sick. "That school actually overworking you Blaine?" she asked.

Darren fiddled with the bow tie around his neck. His palms started to sweat because geez, the atmosphere of speaking with Blaine's parents was intense and he couldn't help the sting at his mother's words. Despite the fact that she was supposed to be Blaine's mom and not his here, it still hurt to think of her reacting in a way Cerina Criss would never dream of.

Uh, no," he said. "It's not school related." He decided that he wasn't going to bother asking if they would be okay with him staying there while he carried out his mission. First off, the fact that Blaine was coming home without warning would only serve to increase his mother's beliefs that NYADA was overworking him. Secondly, he was under the impression that Mr. and Mrs. Anderson would not be overjoyed about Blaine coming home unannounced. He was better off getting a hotel.

"Than why are you calling? I don't have time for random phone calls without purpose Blaine Devon Anderson," she scolded. So apparently, Blaine's mother was not one for calls just to say hi.

"Right," he said lamely. "Sorry to bother you mom. I'll just…go."

"Good-bye Blaine," she replied and promptly hung up the phone. That was it. No I love you or I'll talk to you later. Just a firm good-bye followed by the click of the phone being hung up. Darren decided right then and there that once he got back to his own world, some changes needed to be made to Blaine's parents. They couldn't be like this.

It made him wonder how Blaine was still so sweet and dapper and polite and loving if his parents were none of those things. He didn't dare call his dad. If that was what Blaine's mom was like, his dad would certainly be worse.

Letting out a sigh, he pocketed the cell phone and started walking again, ignoring the people glancing at him curiously. He had to get to the rental car booths so he could grab a car and drive to a hotel. He intended to check in before going to the prison to see about visiting with Kurt.

He barely registered going through the motions of renting a car. His mind was still churning with all this new information. If Lauren Lopez wasn't Lauren Lopez, did that mean Ryan Murphy wasn't Ryan Murphy? But than famous artists had to be themselves right? Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Billy Joel just to name a few.

Reeling with the complicated thoughts of who was the same in this reality and who was different, he took the proffered keys with a wary nod of thanks. This was just getting more and more confusing as it unraveled.

Him being Blaine meant Darren Criss didn't exist here. And apparently neither did Joey Richter or Lauren Lopez. Which probably cancelled out the rest of Team StarKid as well. And with no Team StarKid, there were no Harry Potter musicals. No Draco talking about Pigfarts or rolling around on the ground or going on and on about his fear of the potty and the fact that he still wore diapers. No song of Going Back To Hogwarts that made the phrase, 'Totally awesome' more relevant than it ever was.

A bit of nostalgia curled in his gut as the realization that his Potter musicals did not exist here hit him like a ticking time bomb. How did this reality survive without those musicals? Or was it possible Team StarKid was a completely different group of people? Joey obviously wasn't a part of it here if he was that guy in Adam's Apples.

Right. Adam Crawford. For the first time since he had woken up in Blaine's world, Darren found himself genuinely smiling. Without Kurt's having met Blaine, his path had changed, landing him in prison and clearly away from ever meeting one Adam Crawford. Well, at least one good thing came out of this.

But as he put the key in the lock of the rental car, his face fell again. There was no way of knowing whether Kurt had met Chandler Kiehl. Not meeting Blaine probably wouldn't have had an effect on that. So in that case, whether he met Chandler or not depended on if he went to prison before or after the day he and Chandler were meant to cross paths. If they had met, it was quite possible, Kurt might have a boyfriend and that would be an obstacle in Darren's plans.

The sound of the door shutting echoed in the garage and Darren jumped slightly, sticking the key in the ignition to start the engine. Of course, with thoughts of Kurt meeting Chandler came thoughts of Blaine meeting Sebastian.

An uncomfortable knot started to form in his stomach. Blaine having met Sebastian was inevitable because he never transferred out of Dalton and Sebastian had joined the Warblers in Blaine's junior year. So unless Kurt not meeting Blaine had somehow caused Sebastian to never go to Dalton, they probably did meet.

His one saving grace with this thought was that the girl he was living with had said he didn't have a boyfriend. That eliminated the possibility that he and Sebastian were a thing. Though it didn't eliminate the possibility that they were one in the past. And with Blaine's obliviousness and uncanny ability to never say no, Darren wouldn't be surprised if Sebastian had won given that Blaine had nothing to keep him from giving in to the sleazebag, namely, he had no Kurt to tie him down.

At the same time, this also meant that Sebastian never got to have the pleasure of tormenting and insulting Kurt. Nor would he have had reason to attempt to blackmail the New Directions. He wouldn't have had a reason to have beef with them.

This ultimately would have lead to the events of Michael never happening which probably meant that New Directions ended up doing Michael at Regionals because the Warblers never would have gotten word that that was what they were planning. Just the simple fact of Blaine and Kurt never meeting had changed an awful lot of things. Blaine not transferring McKinley meant he couldn't give their secrets away to Sebastian without realizing he was doing it.

So not only did Sebastian not blackmail the New Directions, but they would have had an entirely different set list and likely won on account of Michael Jackson. Furthermore, the Warblers' performance would have looked different as well, given that Blaine likely would have remained lead soloist.

Would that mean the coveted Warbler council remained intact? Because if Blaine was still there, Sebastian would never have become the sole captain of the Warblers. If they went that route, Blaine probably would have held that position himself.

Darren found himself wishing he'd gone searching for a yearbook so he could confirm a lot of the notions swirling around his head. But he hadn't even thought about any of that until now.

With a sigh, the curly haired man willed his brain to shut up and his eyes to just focus on the road.

This was beginning to seem a lot more complicated than he had originally thought. Maybe he ought to take a night at the hotel to sleep on it.


	7. Chapter Six

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All righty guys! Here we go! Another chapter from Kurt's POV but things are just starting to tie together here and we'll get insight again into Darren's brain next chapter but this is how Kurt sees it. You'll understand when you read it!
> 
> And of course thanks to ChrisCalledMeSweetie for the idea and also her continued devotion to this fic. You're keeping me writing everyday.
> 
> Comments and kudos make me smile. Enjoy!

Sunday blurred into Monday and though Kurt knew he would be seeing his father and Carole today, he still merely picked at his breakfast. Prison food, if anything, was more disgusting than school food. If he could help it, he wouldn't eat anything other than cereal and toast. The worst they could do to toast was burn it. Sometimes fruit too, anything the prison kitchen staff didn't have to actually cook. It was the same reason he resorted to sandwiches at lunch, peanut butter mostly because the meat looked bad.

If there was one thing Kurt had noticed, it was that prison staff seemed to care very little for the health of their prisoners. Well, when it came to nutrition at least.

He sighed heavily, stirring the cereal in his bowl. He ate it dry. The first time he had attempted to use milk in the cereal, he found it to be incredibly sour and starting to curd disgustingly. It was bad milk. Figured. So he never dared to eat cereal with milk. It was safest to eat it dry. He was lucky he hadn't gotten sick that first time.

"Hummel!" a guard suddenly shouted and Kurt jumped, cringing. This guard was not like the one that escorted him to the visit with Santana the day before. This guy had it in for Kurt. Actually, he seemed to have it in for everyone.

Kurt dropped his spoon into his half eaten cereal with a clang and turned to look up at the man, trying to mask his fear but knowing he was likely failing miserably.

"Shower time," the guard snorted, a snickering smirk crossing his features.

Great. Kurt hated shower time. The prison had communal showers and guards circled their perimeter at all times. They provided no privacy to the prisoners but as he was often told, privacy was a privilege none of the scoundrels locked up there had a right to. On top of that, Kurt was always made to shower with men two or three times his size. Most of them left him alone thankfully but not big Henry. Oh no.

"May I get my soap?" he asked hesitantly. The guard snorted again.

"No you may not." Kurt paled perhaps even more so than he was to begin with. Without soap on a rope, Henry could do things. Henry could do things and the guards, especially this one, wouldn't give a damn.

Sometimes Kurt considered doing something to be thrown in solitary confinement. He'd heard it through the grapevine that prisoners in solitary didn't get lead to the showers. Instead, guards threw open the cell door and sprayed them harshly with a hose. Why anyone would choose that over an actual real shower remained to be answered but if it meant that he wouldn't have to risk sexual advances from big Henry, Kurt would do it in a heartbeat.

The one thing stopping him from following through on this idea was the fact that he wanted so desperately to be released early for good behavior. So getting himself thrown in solitary was out of the question.

Swallowing heavily, he slowly stood from the table, picking up his cereal bowl and moving to toss the left over Cheerios in the trash.

"Faster Hummel! I don't got all day!" the guard shouted and Kurt scurried over to him, letting himself be cuffed and lead forcefully to the showers.

When he got there it was like a beacon of light had parted the murky clouds because for once, big Henry was nowhere to be seen.

"Where's big Henry?" he asked the guy at the nozzle next to him as he moved to stand under the spray. Kurt had long since got over the embarrassment of showering naked with other naked men, mostly because he had no other choice now.

The guy looked at him for a moment and he feared he was going to hurt him or something. But he just rubbed his armpit with soap and Kurt fought the urge to wrinkle his nose at the heinous action. Men.

"You didn't hear?" the guy asked and Kurt was surprised at how calm he sounded, realistic shock in his voice as though this were a normal everyday conversation. The twenty year old shook his head. "He was thrown in solitary for an indeterminate amount of time," the guy explained.

This was news to him. He furrowed his brow in confusion. Big Henry may have been feared but he wasn't one who normally caused trouble. Some called him a model prisoner. Trouble did not include screwing other prisoners who forgot their soap on a rope.

"Why?" Kurt asked, dreading the answer.

The guy shrugged. "Rumor is that he got into a fight in the courtyard that resulted in the deaths of three other prisoners," he replied casually.

Again, the twenty year old paled intensely. If that was true than a lot of them had underestimated what big Henry was capable of and he was all too glad that the guy was stuck in solitary confinement. At least for the time being. He hoped he stayed there for quite some time.

"You're Kurt Hummel right?" the guy asked and Kurt was surprised he knew his name.

"You know who I am?" he asked, lathering his prison issued shampoo into his chestnut hair. He hated the stuff but at least it got the job done. Seeing as the guard had not allowed him to return to his cell, he had to use the prison mandate supplies rather than the essentials Santana had delivered him the day before.

To his surprise the guy chuckled. "Word travels," he said with a shrug. "But what are you even doing here? You don't look like the type to wind up in prison."

Kurt sighed and moved to duck his head under the spray. "I got sixteen years for involuntary manslaughter," he admitted. There was no use trying to hide the truth. The guy's eyes went wide. Now he knew that Kurt certainly had not committed murder on purpose. "It was self-defense. He tried to kill me because…I'm gay."

If there was one thing Kurt had learned about being in prison, it was the fact that being a prisoner could very well match to being a vampire. Sexuality did not exist in prison. It didn't matter because if these guys were horny, they got desperate and when you were desperate, you would do anything to get off. The moaning from a nearby nozzle proved the point and the twenty year old forced himself to ignore the lanky prisoner who was using the shampoo to jerk himself off.

"Don't worry. No one like you ever serves their full sentence," the guy replied, bringing Kurt out of his musings. He had to wonder why this guy was seemingly befriending him. But his words did give him a sense of ease. "I've got twenty-five years to life, for a murder I didn't commit," he went on.

The pale man's eyes widened as he looked back at the guy. "You were framed?" he questioned.

His new companion shook his head. "No. I confessed to a murder I didn't commit to protect someone I love."

"But don't you regret that?" Kurt asked. "I mean, confessing to murder landed you behind bars and now you'll likely never get to spend anymore time with the person you love."

The guy sighed. "I wouldn't have anyway," he said. Kurt gave him a confused look. "He was dying of terminal cancer, had barely a few months left to live. Anthony always had really bad anger problems," he said. "He'd always been very temperamental and when he learned that there was nothing the doctors could do and he was going to die, he slit the doctor's throat in blind rage." Kurt didn't say anything but he felt a swell of sympathy for the guy. "I didn't want him to spend his last days behind bars, so I confessed; I confessed so he could live out the rest of his life in whatever way mattered to him."

"That's a big sacrifice to make," Kurt said, reaching to turn the shower off. "You must have really loved him."

A small smile crossed his face. "I did. But he's in a better place now, where he belongs."

Kurt smiled sadly at him, grabbing a towel from the rack. "Well, maybe my mom is looking out for him." The guy gave him a quizzical look. "She died when I was eight. Cancer claimed her too."

"I'm sorry," he replied.

"It's fine. It happened a long time ago." He drew a breath and willed the clench in his heart to go away, but as always, it never did entirely. "I'll see you around I suppose," he said then, making his way out toward a different guard who was waiting to cuff him to lead him back to his cell.

If there was one thing he wasn't sure whether to be thankful for or appalled at, it was what some prisoners called the walk of shame. Being lead back to your cell in nothing but a shabby prison towel. You had to earn the right to redress at the showers and apparently, Kurt wasn't at that level yet.

He ignored the whistles and catcalls as perverted prisoners stared hungrily at his lithe frame. The V shape of his pelvis that dipped below the towel telling them all that despite not being a big guy, Kurt was pretty well endowed below the waistline.

"Hey princess, you want a piece of this?" came a laughing gruff voice. Kurt felt his cheeks grow warm. Unfortunately, given his ethereal beauty, he seemed to be looked on as a piece of meat by the other guys in the ward. This one was accustomed to calling him princess, thinking that he was exactly what Kurt wanted. But far from it.

Six foot tall buff guys with piercings, tattoos, and buzz cuts definitely were not his type. But than, he figured, the guys here wouldn't give a damn about his type. Sex was sex and if it was a beautiful tight little ass like they all claimed Kurt had, than it was definitely worth the force from their end. Honestly, the twenty year old was amazed that after two years of enduring perverted comments and unwelcome touches, his virginity was still intact.

His mind was lost in its own cycle so he didn't even register that they had reached his cell, not until he heard the door clang open. He looked up and for an odd reason stared at the empty bunk. Kurt had no cell mate currently. He didn't know whether to be relieved or disappointed. On the one hand, it reduced the risk of being raped in his own cell. On the other, he did get kind of lonely with no one to really talk to. With so few prisoners on his floor of his cell block, both the cells on either side of him were completely empty. So it wasn't like he could look through the bars and chatter away with a neighbor. Not that he thought he'd really want to.

Without a word, he moved into his cell and allowed the guard to uncuff his wrists before he shut the cell door and Kurt slowly dressed in the clean underwear and uniform he had been provided. Afterwards, he dropped down on his bed and tucked his hands behind his head, staring up at the ceiling.

He wasn't sure how much time had passed but the next thing he knew, the guard from the day before was at his cell.

"Hummel, you have a visitor," he said quite calmly and Kurt sat up, surprised. Though he didn't have any sense of time passing, he knew it was too early for his dad and Carole to have stopped by. They usually came in late afternoon. And he doubted that Santana had come back. So who would have come to visit him? Other than his parents and Santana, Kurt didn't get any visitors.

Feeling much as he did the day before, before he remembered Santana's visitation schedule, the twenty year old slid from the bed and made his way to the cell door, which the guard had unlocked.

"I have to hand it to you Hummel," the guard said as he lead him away from the cell. "He's quite the looker."

"Huh? Who?" The confusion was laced all through his voice and now he was completely at a loss for who could possibly be there to see him. He wasn't expecting anyone other than his dad and Carole. And certainly not some mysterious boy as the guard seemed to suggest his visitor was.

"The boy who asked to see you," the guard said simply, as though it was the most logical thing in the world. "He's cute. If I were you, I'd consider tapping that the moment I got out of here."

Kurt blushed scarlet and turned his eyes on the floor. But just because the guard thought the boy was cute, didn't mean that Kurt would think the same thing. They could have different tastes. And wait a minute…

"Aren't you straight?" he asked. The guard chuckled.

"Doesn't mean I can't appreciate a good looking guy when I see one. Just like straight girls can appreciate when a girl is beautiful." That seemed to make sense. It still didn't mean that they would see eye to eye on what was considered good looking.

They were both quiet as they continued to walk to the visitor area. Kurt was holding his breath in anticipation of what was to come. A boy. An apparently good looking boy had come to see him. He didn't have a clue why. He didn't know any good looking boys who would visit. He had thought Sam might try and come see him but he had heard neither hide nor hair of the blonde since he'd been arrested. That just went to show him who his real friends were.

Out of everyone in Glee, only three people had ever made the effort to visit him in prison. And out of those three, only one was still making the effort. Finn had been coming with Burt and Carole when he was still alive. His tragic end leaving an empty void in Kurt's very being. And Mercedes had moved to LA for a record deal. He hadn't heard from her after that. Santana had moved out of state too but she was still making the effort and that meant a lot more to him than Kurt could even express. Of all his friends, Santana was certainly not the one he would expect to keep persisting with contact.

He felt furious with Rachel because although they had been on bad terms when he'd been arrested, he at least expected as one of his best friends, she would want to make amends and be there for him. Instead, Rachel had made no such move, stayed silent, and the last he had spoken to her was their argument after the dodgeball game. Oh well, her loss.

The guard opened the door to the visitors room and pointed to the screen at the far end of the row. Kurt could not make out the face on it but slowly made his way towards it.

As he drew closer he picked up the outline of a dark haired boy with olive skin. His hair was in a tamed yet wild array of curls and Kurt felt his breath catch in his throat.

Slowly he moved to sit down in front of the screen, to find himself staring at undoubtedly the most beautiful face he had ever seen in his life. And those eyes, how they glistened with the green and browns of their honey-hazel color. The unfamiliar boy smiled in a relieved way and Kurt felt an instant calm wash over him. He picked up the receiver.

"Um, hello," he said carefully.

"Kurt Hummel?" came the reply and Kurt felt his stomach flip at the sound of the smooth rich voice coming from the other boy. He managed only a nod and the smile wrote itself back across the other's face. "I'm Blaine, Blaine Anderson."

And with those simple words, Kurt's world was turned on its head.


	8. Chapter Seven

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we go guys! The continuation of their first conversation and Darren has a notion at the end that sets up for the next chapter. This is a little shorter than some of the chapters but I always end a chapter when I feel it should end.
> 
> And thanks as always goes to ChrisCalledMeSweetie! Your devotion and suggestions are much appreciated!
> 
> Comments and kudos make me smile. Enjoy!

Darren hadn't had any idea what to expect when he got to the prison. But it certainly hadn't been to find one of those that did not do face to face visitations. He'd opened his mouth to protest but then thought better of it. While Darren might say something about it, Blaine certainly wouldn't and the last thing he needed was to be banned from visiting Kurt at all.

And there was the whole process itself. Removing everything from his pockets and putting it all in the bin. Getting patted down, and being lead by security to the visitors side of the area. He felt like he was at an airport security check with heightened security. Honestly, it was a little ridiculous and he found himself cursing under his breath.

Why did Kurt have to get himself thrown in prison? He needed as much information on this as he could possibly get.

So as he sat at the screen waiting for Kurt to appear, he tried to formulate a plan in his head. He briefly considered telling Kurt who he really was but that wouldn't aide in his goal of putting Klaine together in this reality. So he resigned to play the part. Be Blaine.

When Kurt did appear, he looked tired, worn out, and drained but even through all that, he still looked absolutely amazing.

"Um, hello," Kurt said, sounding somewhat unsure. Darren didn't blame him. After all, Blaine was a stranger in this reality.

"Kurt Hummel?" he asked into the receiver. Kurt merely nodded his head and Darren smiled at him warmly. "I'm Blaine, Blaine Anderson."

A strange silence settled in around them for a few moments and it was oddly tense, but in a good way.

"You. You're the one who ran into Rachel yesterday," Kurt finally said. Darren was taken aback at his words. How had he known that? Kurt seemed to read his mind fore he said, "Santana told me."

The curly haired man bit his lip and tried to look confused. He wasn't supposed to know Santana in this reality. Though 'Blaine' had met her at the airport, he didn't think he needed to release that detail. He had more important things to worry about. After all, he had no more than a measly half hour at best.

"Yes, I am," he confirmed, giving his head a nod. Before he could go on, Kurt interrupted him.

"Are you some kind of stalker?" he asked. "Because I don't know you but clearly you know me." The all too familiar bitch glare was written across his face and Darren thought that Chris had that look down pat but seeing the real thing was positively terrifying.

"What? No!" he replied. "It's complicated. Maybe I'll explain one day but right now, there's no time to get into that." Kurt looked at him with surprise and he went on. "Listen Kurt," he started again leaning closer so he could block out his words from reaching the guards. "I want to try and get you out of here. You don't belong in prison. This wasn't the way things were supposed to end up," he told him, biting his lip.

He had expected the look of extreme confusion that crossed the other's face. "Okay…" Kurt said slowly and why the fuck was everyone reacting like that recently? Darren resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

"I need to know, did you kill him on purpose?" he asked instead, catching Kurt by surprise.

"What? Of course not!" He sounded appalled at the idea. "It was self-defense. If I hadn't done something, Karofsky would have killed me. I didn't expect it to result in his death. I just wanted to injure him, not kill him."

That had been exactly what he'd been hoping Kurt would say. This Kurt was no different in personality than the Kurt he was used to but knowing that murder had not been in Kurt's plans to defend himself gave him a lot to think about.

"Was anyone there?" he asked next and Kurt gave him a funny look.

"What do you mean?" he asked him quietly.

"Was anyone there?" Darren repeated. "I mean was there anyone there that can vouch for you acting in self-defense?" he clarified.

"Oh," Kurt said. He shook his head. "Not that I know of but I wasn't really paying attention."

That came as no surprise. When you were fighting for your life, you didn't really have the time to observe your surroundings. But there had to be a way to find out, to know if someone was there.

Before he'd left the hotel that morning, Darren had done some research on the Ohio legal system. If there had been a witness that could confirm that had Kurt not acted in the manner he did, he would have been the one found dead, than Kurt would be released from prison. They just needed to find a witness, but Darren didn't know how.

"Kurt," he said. "If we can back up that you were indeed acting in self-defense to save your own life, you'll be released from prison and the charges dropped."

Kurt looked at him for a long moment. "Are you saying that they didn't believe me when I said I killed him in self-defense?"

Darren sighed. "Law enforcement can be brutal and a bunch of dicks," he started. That got a laugh out of Kurt. "People get wrongfully accused all the time. And then there are those assholes that are convinced of someone's guilty verdict even when said someone is indeed innocent of the crimes convicted. These kind of people will stop at nothing to see that person behind bars, Justice served, and will not so much as give them the benefit of the doubt."

Silence fell over them again as Kurt seemingly soaked all that information in. The fact was, this was true no matter where you went or who you talked to. There was always that one figure of the law that would feel that way. It was the one thing that played a major role in so many innocent people getting locked behind bars.

"And there are people who confess to save others," Kurt finally said.

Darren furrowed his brow. "What do you mean?" he asked.

"I met a guy in the showers this morning," Kurt told him. "He's serving twenty-five years to life for a murder he didn't commit." Darren felt his eyes go wide as saucers. "He confessed to protect his boyfriend who was dying of terminal cancer."

The curly haired man didn't know what to say to that. That must have been a powerful love. For someone to throw their freedom away like that just so someone they loved wouldn't have to suffer more than they already were was a very big deal. And even as he thought about it, he became aware that it was the same kind of love Kurt and Blaine had. Both of them would do anything to keep the other from suffering. He was sure that had this happened while Kurt and Blaine were together, Blaine would have taken the fall for Kurt in a heartbeat. That was just the kind of person he was.

And it was this very realization that finally made it click in Darren's head why the Klaine storyline was so important. He felt so guilty for his lack of enthusiasm for that main plot of Blaine's life lately. He vowed to do better. Starting right about now.

And this second realization brought up something of concern to the twenty-seven year old. The more he tried to think about his own reality, the fuzzier the easy things started to become. He was struggling to remind himself that Chris' name was not really Kurt and he hadn't even realized it until now.

The sudden worry must have shown on his face fore Kurt said, "Are you all right Blaine?" Darren snapped himself out of his reverie and plastered a smile on his face.

"Fine. Just been thinking about some stuff," he said. Kurt looked unsure for a moment before he slowly nodded his head. It wasn't like they knew each other well enough to pour their hearts out. Even though Darren knew they should.

It was then that the guard on Kurt's side of the screen tapped the prisoner on the shoulder and he sighed softly.

"I have to go now," Kurt said. "But feel free to come back any time."

Darren couldn't think of anything to say to that so he nodded and smiled sadly as he watched Kurt hang up the receiver and stand from his seat.

"Just hang on Kurt. I'm going to get you out of here," he whispered to himself as Kurt walked away. He got up from his seat and nodded to the guard behind him. He allowed him to lead him back out to the front where another guard returned his things to him. He nodded in thanks as he placed the items back in his pockets and made his way back out to the rental car.

This was undoubtedly more complicated than he had expected. For one thing, he realized that he was going to have to get Kurt out of prison before he worked on putting Klaine back together. A maximum half an hour a day was not enough to develop a relationship with someone.

And then another thought crossed him mind. Kurt had said Santana had told him. That Rachel had run into him. That meant Santana already knew about him but she'd said nothing at the airport the day before. Did she just not make the connection, or was she being sneaky like Santana was known to be sometimes?

He couldn't put his finger on it but there was definitely something more going on here than what he had originally assumed. Rachel wanted nothing to do with Kurt, Santana seemed to be making the effort to see Kurt, and Kurt was technically unfairly behind bars. If they could prove that not only had Kurt indeed been acting in self-defense, but he had also only intended to injure the boy, he would be freed.

Suddenly, another thought crossed his mind and he changed direction and pulled into the parking lot of a Seven-Eleven, in front of which was an old pay phone.

Getting out of the car, Darren jogged to the pay phone and picked up the phone book, flipping immediately to the letter K. He scrolled down the columns until success had him tapping his finger on a name. Pulling Blaine's cell phone out of his pocket, he quickly tapped in the number and put the phone to his ear.

"Hello?" said a voice on the other end of the line.

"Mr. Karofsky?" he asked carefully, hoping he had indeed got the right number. He had considered just going to the address listed and showing up unannounced but Blaine would have considered that rude.

"Yes?" the man said uncertainly.

"My name is Blaine Anderson. I wondered if I might speak to you about the case regarding the death of your son?"

There was a silence on the other end of the line for a moment and Darren held his breath, afraid that he might get berated by the man for reminding him of something that had happened two years earlier.

But when Mr. Karofsky did reply, it wasn't a response he had been expecting.

"Are you on David's side or Kurt's?" he asked. That was a rather peculiar question and for a moment Darren wondered if Mr. Karofsky was testing him or something.

He swallowed thickly before answering carefully. "Kurt's sir."

"Drop by anytime. I'll be home all day," was the response. Darren was even more surprised by that. Shouldn't Paul Karofsky be more concerned with keeping his son's killer behind bars? This didn't make any sense but it did give him an opening and a green light to ask the questions that were churning in his head.

"I'm on my way now sir," he said. "I've just come from visiting Kurt." He started back for the rental car as he spoke.

"How is he?" Mr. Karofsky asked and he sounded genuinely concerned for the boy who had murdered his son.

"He seems to be okay. Exhausted but he's holding up. I don't think prison's been as tough on him as some people might think." But than Kurt had always been so strong. He had a thicker skin than Blaine did, that was for sure. Even though Blaine had encouraged him to be brave, Kurt was without a doubt, much more courageous than Blaine had ever been.

"Good to know," Mr. Karofsky said. "I'll see you soon than."

"Right, good-bye Mr. Karofsky," he replied.

"Good-bye Blaine." There was a click as he hung up the phone. Darren stared at it for a moment before he got into the rental car again.

That had been easier than he had anticipated. He had been bracing himself for an angry rant from Paul Karofsky. It was clear that although he had believed Kurt in the bullying storyline, he cared a great deal for David. Why than, did he seem to be on Kurt's side?

Darren tried not to let that poke at him as he started the car and pulled back onto the road. He would get his answers when he got there. And maybe, just maybe, Mr. Karofsky could help him find exactly what he needed to help Kurt.


	9. Chapter Eight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we go guys! The conversation with Paul and the situation gets even more complicated. Poor Darren isn't finding this to be very easy at all and this is definitely setting this story up to be quite some length. I have to make sure it's covered what needs to be done. And Klaine hasn't even started to be worked on yet!
> 
> Thanks to ChrisCalledMeSweetie for her suggestions and continued devotion to this fic. I'm just sprouting more and more ideas for it now!
> 
> Comments and kudos make me smile. Enjoy!

He wasn't entirely sure what he was going to find when he got to Karofsky's house. Despite the sense that Darren had of Paul Karofsky's personality from what little the man had been in the show, he still didn't have a clue why the man didn't seem to care more about his son having been murdered than the well being of his murderer.

He tried not to let that boggle his mind too much as he drove, trying to prepare himself for the conversation with Mr. Karofsky.

But not thinking about the strange situation concerning Mr. Karofsky lead him to thinking about what was going on with Santana instead. He knew that girl was too smart not to make the connection at the airport that he was the same Blaine that had run into Rachel the day before. How likely was it that she and Rachel would run into two different Blaines in the same city on the same day? Not very. Blaine was not a common name by any means. In fact, Darren's head canon was that Blaine's parents had gotten his name from _Pretty In Pink_.

So there had to be something there that he was missing. The question was what? The issue was going to bug him and he was thinking that he might just have to go back to New York. But he refused to try and solve this particular puzzle without getting Kurt out of prison first. That was his number one priority.

A mental check list was beginning to form in his brain. Number one, get Kurt out of prison. Number two, put Klaine together like they were meant to be. Number three, find out what the hell was going on with Santana. And number four, fix Kurt and Rachel's broken relationship.

He hadn't asked Kurt about his relationship with Rachel, which he probably should. He only had the inkling that there was bad blood there because of how Rachel had reacted to his questions about Kurt when he ran into her. She told him to forget about him.

A thought crossed his mind as he came to a stoplight and braked to wait for it to turn green. If Rachel and Kurt apparently weren't on good terms than that meant the incident must have happened when they were fighting. And their biggest argument of season three was when Rachel had decided to run for class president against Kurt because she was afraid that she was going to lose Maria to Mercedes.

Darren had to admit, that was a selfish blow. She had been the one to encourage Kurt to run in the first place, to beef up his college application with extracurriculars because he was woefully low on them.

If this was indeed the case than that meant Kurt had never met Chandler because this all happened way before that. On the other hand, if they were still on bad terms with each other, it also meant that it had happened before Rachel withdrew from the race. In which case, it was highly plausible she had never backed out at all. But then, who had won the election?

Darren was a bit elated. This gave him a certifiable reason to go to McKinley. He could talk to Principal Figgins, under the guise that he needed information because he was trying to build a case against Ohio for Kurt's release from prison, which wouldn't be a lie because he was indeed trying to do that.

Feeling somewhat nostalgic as more and more things opened up for his determined sense of well being and trying to right the wrongs this whole reality had posed, Darren turned onto Karofsky's street with a genuine smile on his face. It was the first time since he'd woken up there the day before that he honestly felt like he was making progress.

He didn't expect Mr. Karofsky to be standing on his porch waiting for him when he got there. It was almost as if the man was eager to get started. This only served to confuse him even more.

"Blaine Anderson?" Paul said as Darren parked the car and climbed out. The curly haired man nodded his head slightly and the man stuck a hand out. "Paul Karofsky." He shook the man's hand and offered a smile.

"Nice to meet you Mr. Karofsky," he said politely. God, he was so good at falling into Blaine so easily.

"Please, call me Paul," the man replied, smiling back. "Shall we?" he went on, indicating the house behind him. Darren nodded and Paul lead him into the house and gestured for him to have a seat. "You have some questions for me?" he asked then, once the two of them were settled.

Darren reached a hand up to rub at the back of his neck for a moment, biting his lip and trying to figure out just how to go about this conversation.

"Take your time," Paul told him. A sense of gratitude filled him.

"I suppose I should start by saying, I'm trying to get Kurt out of prison," he finally said a few moments later. Paul nodded his head.

"Good. I don't think he belongs there," he said. Darren stared at him wide-eyed for a moment.

"You don't?" he asked in surprise.

Paul shook his head. "No. I met Kurt once. David was almost expelled for something he continued to claim he didn't do right up until the day he died."

Darren was quiet for a moment. So even without Blaine's encouragement, it seemed that Karofsky had still found some reason to threaten Kurt's life. But in this reality, he hadn't been expelled and continued to go to McKinley. But that wasn't really different at all. In his familiar reality, Karofsky had been expelled but the school board had overturned the expulsion because they had no evidence other than Kurt's word. The twenty-seven year old would be lying if he said he wasn't curious about what would have happened if Kurt had stayed at McKinley. He supposed he was getting his answer.

"He didn't seem like the violent type," Mr. Karofsky went on, drawing him out of his musings. He cleared his throat. "I highly doubt that Kurt would have fought with anything more than words. And though David denied ever threatening his life, a part of me felt that there had to be some truth to it to some extent. He certainly was not the same boy I remembered raising. I don't know where I went wrong."

"You did nothing wrong Paul," the younger man said. "David was a football player, right?" Paul nodded. "Football players are popular. My guess is that it went to his head and once he realized those things about himself, he became terrified of falling from the top of the food chain. So he took to bullying Kurt to make himself feel better for that which he felt ashamed of."

Paul looked at him for a moment before slowly nodding his head. As much as it hurt him to admit it. The kid did have a point. The fact here was that David was ashamed of himself for being gay so to cover that up and make himself better he targeted the only out gay kid in the school. It made sense. And it was a common reason for bullying anyway. People bullied others to make themselves feel better.

"I know what Kurt must have been feeling during the attack," Darren went on. "I graduated from Dalton Academy, but I didn't attend there for my entire high school career. I started at a public school. We had a Sadie Hawkins dance and I had just come out," he explained. He paused and waited for Paul to say anything but the man didn't. He just looked at him in anticipation. "I asked a friend of mine, the only other out gay kid in the school. And while we were waiting for his dad to pick us up, these three guys came and beat the living crap out of us."

He could see the sympathy start to glow in Paul's eyes. "I'm so sorry Blaine," the man said. "You must be grateful to be alive."

He nodded. "I am. But this isn't about me." He bit his lip, knowing he needed to ask the one question that had been eating at him since he had found the man's number in that phone book. When he spoke again, his voice was very quiet. "Do you think Kurt meant to kill your son?"

He expected Paul to take a moment or more to consider the question and how he was going to answer it. But to his surprise, the response came immediately, suggesting this may have been something the man had spent quite some time thinking about and was very sure of his answer as a result.

"No," he said firmly, shaking his head. "I don't think Kurt intended for anyone to end up dead. Not himself and not David. I could see it in his face at the trial. He was terrified. Not to mention, he plead guilty to manslaughter. I was furious when they still gave him sixteen years."

Darren felt a swell of admiration for the man. This man who had lost his son in a brutal manner and still held every sense of forgiveness for his killer. It wasn't unheard of for a family to forgive the killer of a loved one. But for them to be absolutely certain death had never been the intention, that was another level of forgiveness entirely.

"I spoke with Kurt today, as you know," he started. "I asked him if he meant to kill David. He said of course not. He'd only been hoping to injure him." He paused for a moment to collect his thoughts. "And I'm positive that had Kurt's own life not been in danger, he would have avoided even that. As you said, he's not a violent person. Kurt has never believed violence is the answer."

"So it's true than," Paul said quietly a moment later. Darren inclined his head to the side, a questioning look on his face. "David really had been trying to kill him." There was a sad look in his eyes.

"How do you know that Paul?" Darren asked quietly.

It was another moment before he answered him. "That kid, Jacob something, the one that runs that gossip blog, he told me he saw the whole thing. Filmed it with a camera. He said David was trying to kill Kurt. I didn't know whether to believe him or not because by more than David's word, the kid liked to exaggerate everything and spread rumors around the school."

Of course. Jacob Ben Israel, McKinley's gossip king. The twenty-seven year old resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Jacob was known for spreading rumors and twisting people's words and notifying the entire school of things that should have been kept private. Not to mention his obsession with one Rachel Berry. Honestly, Darren was surprised he had the decency not to broadcast the attack that had ended in Karofsky's death.

So it appeared they did have a witness. Someone who could confirm that Kurt was indeed acting in self-defense. If Darren could somehow get him to come forward and hand over the video to authorities as evidence, they would be golden. But that was easier said than done. This was Jacob Ben Israel they were talking about here. If he hadn't grown up in the year since graduating high school, he was more likely to want to keep that tape for blackmail.

But even as that thought crossed his mind, Darren was already preparing a counter offense. Who would Jacob blackmail with it? The only person left he could use it against was already in prison. Besides, Kurt wouldn't have been the one it would be beneficial to blackmail. Yes. He was certain he had this in the bag.

"Do you know where I can find Jacob?" he asked Paul.

"Sure," the man said. "He said something about applying for TMZ."

TMZ. Of course. Hollywood's biggest gossip paps. It was only fitting that Jacob would want to join them. Looked like he was going to have to go back to New York to track down Jacob. He was going to start at the TMZ offices.

"Thank you Mr. Karofsky. You've been a big help," he said, standing up.

"No trouble at all Blaine. I hope you succeed in freeing Kurt. He deserves his freedom." Darren nodded his head. "I'll see you to the door."

A number of things were swirling in his mind as he headed to his car after exchanging good-byes with the man at the door. This was getting more and more complicated by the moment. He was going to have to go back to New York. Or maybe he wouldn't. He wanted to stay in Ohio at least until he got Kurt out.

He resolved to look for contact information on the TMZ website later. Try that outlet first and if he absolutely had to, he would go back to New York. First however, he was going to talk to Figgins at McKinley. See if he couldn't find out more about the situation from the school's perspective as well as who had won the presidential election that year. He didn't know why but he thought there may have been some importance to that.

And even as he drove away from Karofsky's house, he was beginning to think this was most certainly not an easy mess to fix at all. And he was not looking forward to having to talk to Jacob. That was the last person he hoped to find as a witness.

"Whoever you are that put me here, you sure as hell aren't making this easy for me." He was thinking aloud and shook his head as he drove. This was enough for one day. He would stop by McKinley in the morning.

He was beginning to wish he'd never laid down for that nap.


	10. Real World Interlude One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Surprise! I bet you were expecting this to be the McKinley chapter. Originally, it was going to, but then I realized that if one of my couples in this story is Chris/Darren, I need to start adding more Chris and giving you all a look of the situation from his side of the tracks. Hence, this will be the first of the real world interlude chapters. And yes, it is kind of left on a cliffhanger. *whistles*
> 
> As always, thanks so much to ChrisCalledMeSweetie for the idea! So much is unraveling in this fic and I have no idea when I'll be done with it.
> 
> Comments and kudos make me smile. Enjoy!

Chris Colfer couldn't sleep. He hadn't been able to since that call from Joey the day before. Darren was missing. Darren was missing and there was no clue as to where he had gone or what had happened to him.

For the second night in a row, Chris laid on his bed and stared up at the ceiling with his hands tucked behind his head. Why did he feel like Darren's sudden disappearance was his fault? Sure, his temper had been short as of late given the frustration of Darren's enthusiasm for their scenes together dropping immensely. But could that really be enough for Darren to run? And where had he gone to?

The moment Joey had told him, Chris had raced to the apartment he and Darren shared and inspected the scene himself. The bed was rumpled and unmade, indicating the curly haired man had indeed been lying in it. Other than that and the discarded clothes on the floor that the man had been wearing that day, there was no evidence that Darren had ever even been there. It was as if he had up and vanished into thin air.

Chris rolled over in his bed, his mind a whir of thoughts. People didn't just vanish off the face of the earth without a trace. That wasn't how things worked in the real world.

Again, he felt the guilt begin to build in his stomach and sighing heavily, Chris grabbed his cell phone from the nightstand and scrolled through his contacts. It was late, yes but he knew the person he was calling would answer anyway.

"This better be important Colfer. It's after two in the morning," came the groggy greeting a few moments later. Chris smiled to himself.

"I know Ash," he replied. "I'm sorry. I can't sleep."

"Is this about Darren?" she asked. Good old Ashley, always knowing exactly what was weighing on Chris' mind. But that was why the two of them were such good friends. Other than Darren, Ashley Fink was Chris' best friend out of the cast. Even though she was no longer on Glee. But the two of them had really hit it off.

The pale man sighed and licked his lips. He hadn't told Ashley yet that Darren was missing. But there was something else that he had been discussing with her lately.

"Yes," he admitted. "But not in the usual sense."

She was quiet for a moment, suggesting that she was thinking over what he meant by that. That she was trying to take in the idea of Chris discussing Darren in a manner that had nothing to do with the growing feelings he had for the man, feelings that terrified him, especially since his breakup with Will was still pretty fresh.

A soft meow met his free ear as Chris felt his cat Brian jump up onto the bed. He reached a hand out in the dark and the cat nuzzled beneath it, prompting Chris to scratch him affectionately behind the ears.

"I get the feeling this is a serious matter," Ashley finally said and Chris retracted his hand from Brian who meowed his protest, sighing into the phone.

"Serious yes, but puzzling too," he told her. When she replied, she sounded bewildered.

"You've never described your feelings for Darren as being puzzling Chris," she said quietly.

Chris shut his eyes for a moment, drawing a deep breath and willing himself to remain calm. Starting an argument under his intense level of frustration over the whole thing was not his intention. He needed advice and he didn't know who else to turn to.

"This isn't about my unrequited feelings for him Ash," he said firmly but gently.

"Than what is it about?" she prompted.

Chris gripped the phone tighter, trying to figure out what the best way to go about describing the situation would be. He decided he was better off being blunt and even though Ashley was his best friend, he was half-certain that she wasn't going to believe him.

"Joey called me," he started. "The day Ryan sent Darren home early." That was technically the day before yesterday but details weren't important. "Ash, Darren, he's…he's missing."

Silence met his words and Chris became aware for the first time that Ashley was speechless. She had run out of things to say.

"What do you mean he's missing?" she finally asked, voice unusually small and quiet, especially for her.

"I mean missing. Vanished without a trace. Like he evaporated into thin air." Before she could start a tangent on how that wasn't technically possible, he went on. "Joey told me that Darren went in for a nap when he got home. He said he was acting really weird too. Called him from the parking lot and asked him to come outside to tell him what he saw."

"Huh," Ashley interrupted but said nothing more.

"He went to check on him later, see if he wanted to order pizza or something and he found his room empty. Darren was nowhere to be seen. His clothes and shoes were left on the floor. The bed was rumpled. I know he wouldn't leave in his pajamas, at least not without his shoes on. And there's no way out of the apartment other than the front door. It's not on the first floor so it's not like he could hop the balcony fence or something. And his bedroom windows have screens on them anyway, so he couldn't climb out one. Not to mention they're too small to fit a body through."

When Chris ended his rant, he realized he had said all of that in one solid breath and he found himself breathing heavily and rapidly by the end. But he needed to explain whole situation to make sure that Ashley didn't try to find some logical explanation to Darren's disappearance.

"He didn't show up to work today either," he said once he had caught his breath, noting that she had said nothing, indicating she must have been in thought.

"Yesterday you mean." And he could hear the smirk in her voice.

Chris rolled his eyes. "Details," he said. "My point is that he didn't show up and it's not like him to skip a day without prior warning."

Ashley made a noise as she continued her thinking process before she replied. "Do you know anything that happened the day Ryan sent him home early?" she asked.

He shook his head, even though he knew she couldn't see him. "No. I don't know what Ryan talked to him about. Other than it having to do with his lack of enthusiasm for Blaine's storyline with Kurt," he admitted.

"Well, there has to be some explanation," Ashley told him firmly. "We'll get to the bottom of this Colfer, I promise."

"Thanks Ash," he said.

"Don't mention it," she replied. "Now, get some sleep. I don't like the idea of seeing bags under those beautiful eyes. It would mar your ethereal beauty."

He laughed. "I'll try. Goodnight Ash."

"Goodnight Colfer." There was a click as she hung up the phone. Chris sighed and dropped his hand, still clutching his cell phone. At least Ash was considering the situation and not just telling him he was delusional. He figured though that that was probably one of the reasons she was the one he chose to confide in about this.

He lifted the phone back to his face and stared at Darren's name in his contacts. Not for the first time, he wondered what would happen if he texted Darren, or called him. He finally decided that he was due to find out or it would continue to nag at him until he did.

Hands shaking, Chris let his thumb hover over the call button. He decided it would be faster to call and he could get more of a direct answer that way. Swallowing the lump that had started to form in his throat, he tapped the call button and brought the phone to his ear.

It rang, once, twice, three times, and then the scariest thing Chris could imagine happened.

The old well known tone of a disconnected phone number played in his ear before an automated voice said, "We're sorry. The number you have reached has been disconnected. Please hang up and try your call again."

The man paled even more. How could Darren's number have been disconnected? Jumping up from the bed so fast, he startled Brian who meowed in frustration, Chris ran from the room and out to the hall where he kept an address book in a table drawer. He grabbed the book with shaky hands and flipped to the Cs.

He quickly located the number he was looking for, tapped it into his phone and shakily brought the device back up to his ear.

"Hello?" answered a groggy voice. "This better be important if you're calling at this hour."

Chris mentally cursed himself. "Mr. Criss? This is Chris. I'm sorry for bothering you so late but I wondered if you had heard from Darren?" He held his breath.

His words were met with a few moments of silence before the voice on the other end of the line said something that made Chris' blood run cold.

"I don't know anyone named Darren or Chris and I don't know how you know my name or how you got this number but this isn't funny."

"Um, I'm a friend of Chuck's," Chris spit out immediately as he tried to digest what he was hearing.

"Chuck never mentioned having a friend named Chris," the man replied.

Chris coughed. "Oh, well, I guess he hasn't gotten around to it yet. Sorry to bother you sir." He needed to end this awkward phone call and he needed to end it now.

"Right," Mr. Criss replied. "Goodnight," he said politely before there was a click as he hung up the phone.

Chris wrapped his arms around himself and slid down against the wall. He felt sick to his stomach and at the same time like nothing would come out if he even tried to spew the contents. That very thought made him groan.

What had happened? What had happened that had not only put Darren's number out of service but had made his family completely forget about him? And why did they not know of Darren when Chris and Joey and Ashley and everyone at Glee apparently still did? Something really weird was going on here.

The default ringer of his phone suddenly cut through the chill air in his otherwise quiet and empty house. He could see Brian just starting to lurk in the shadows surrounding his bedroom doorway but his mind was elsewhere. It took half-way through the ringing for Chris to even place what the sound was.

With his hands still shaking, he brought the phone to his ear and tapped the accept call button. "Hello?" he asked in a broken voice.

The first thing that met Chris' ear was the sound of very strong static. Whomever was on the other end of the line, their connection was extremely bad and Chris found himself wondering if he would even hear them speaking at all.

So you can imagine his surprise when the voice cut through the static, clear as a bell. "Are you Chris Colfer?" it asked and Chris stared for a long moment. The voice sounded familiar but for some reason, he couldn't place it.

"Yes…" he said hesitantly.

"I know what you're worried about," the voice said. Those very words sent chills up Chris' spine and yet at the same time seemed to comfort him. But he still couldn't place the very familiar voice.

"Oh?" he got out. "Who is this?"

"That's not important," the voice replied. He knew it was definitely a female. The static could still be strongly heard in the background. He didn't understand how it was such a bad connection yet he could still hear her very clearly. "What's important is that your friend is safe."

That caught Chris' attention. "You know where Darren is? Where is he? Why did he just disappear? Why do his parents not know who he is?" he demanded.

"Slow down there porcelain geek," came the reply. And that snapped something in Chris. Porcelain was only something used in character on screen and really, there were only two people who had ever used it on a regular basis. And the voice definitely did not belong to Jane Lynch.

"Santana?" he whispered in disbelief and even as he said it, he registered that the voice did indeed sound like Naya's but Naya would never call him something like porcelain geek. But the idea that he was talking, physically talking to one Santana Lopez was absolutely ridiculous.

"Look," she said, ignoring his accusation of who she was. "You don't need all the details. All you need to know is that he's safe and he'll be returned to you once his mission is complete…maybe."

That sent another chill rolling up his spine. Maybe? _Maybe?_ What did she mean by maybe?

"What do you mean maybe?" he demanded into the phone.

"Bye porcelain geek," came the response.

"No wait!" he shouted. But it was too late. She cut the call and the immense static was replaced by silence. Chris had never wished iPhone's had a dial tone more than he did now. That would have been less creepy than the dead silence that filled his ears.

Frustration filled his very being and without so much as a beat, he scrolled through his contacts until he found Naya's name, forcefully tapping it and hitting call so that his phone would send a call her way.

"Do you have any idea what time it is Christopher?" came the sleepy yet irritated greeting. Chris completely ignored her protest.

"I think I just got a phone call from Santana."


	11. Chapter Nine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry this is so late today! I got absorbed playing 2048 for most of the day. That game is evilly addictive. Also, I was lazy and didn't write this all when I sat down to do it so I've only just got it done. On the bright side, this is undoubtedly the longest chapter so far, at just over 4500 words. So I hope that makes up for the lateness today. I had no idea it would end up this long. There is an awful lot of information in this chapter. It's very informative. It's weird how the situation just seems to piece itself together as I write. But it does.
> 
> Thanks as always to the lovely ChrisCalledMeSweetie. Your devotion means the world to me.
> 
> Comments and kudos make me smile. Enjoy!

Darren awoke the next day with his head spinning. He could feel the beginnings of a headache coming on. This was not the way he wanted to start the day that he was intending to go and visit McKinley.

He had considered going to visit Kurt that afternoon, tell him what had happened when he went to talk to Mr. Karofsky. But he hadn't even had the idea to do that until after he'd left the day before. He decided to wait until he had more information before he went to talk to him again.

And there was the whole thing about needing to track down Jacob Ben Israel, even though the smarmy git was really the last person he wanted to meet for real. No offense to Justin Sussman.

He'd already decided to gather all his in Lima information before he attempted to contact TMZ. He only hoped that Jacob had been successful at trying to get a job at the gossip paper. Or more like online site. It wasn't really a paper. For the love of, it had a TV show.

Wait a second! TMZ had a TV show on Fox! It was on every night at seven thirty. The half hour before Glee aired. He may not even have to make the effort to contact them only to have it be futile because Jacob wasn't there. Surely the guy would be part of the show. After all, he loved being on camera if only to spread rumors around. It was the perfect place for him.

Pushing aside the growing headache, Darren grabbed an Aleve and downed some water from the sink in the bathroom before climbing into the shower. He had to get started on his day and that meant getting to McKinley.

He wasn't even sure anymore what exactly he was supposed to be doing. Or if he was moving in the right direction. Right now the only thing on his mind was getting Kurt out of prison. He didn't belong there. It was kind of out of place for Kurt, him being in prison. He would have expected Puck maybe but certainly not Kurt.

Darren briefly found himself wondering what had become of Puck in this reality, but then something even more pressing settled itself in his brain. McKinley. By the end of the Lima run of Glee, Sue Sylvester was principal of McKinley and Figgins had been demoted to a mere janitor. Was that still true now?

He paused in scrubbing shampoo into his head. Wait, what if Sue had never stopped being principal in season two? Paul already confirmed that the threat situation had indeed still happened. Sue would have been principal at that time. Did she still give it up? She had gone back to her previous position mainly so she could keep an eye on Kurt in the hallways. But obviously, if it escalated to the point where Kurt was fighting for his life, it hadn't done much good if she did.

He decided he would have to find that out when he got to the school. So many other things had changed. Would there be a difference when he got to McKinley?

As he got in his car sometime later, he had to sit for a moment and draw a few breaths. The Aleve had done nothing to relieve the headache that had been building in his head that morning. He reached up to rub at his temples for a few moments and suddenly, the car spun. Darren quickly threw his hands out to grip the steering wheel but the moment he pulled his hands away from his throbbing head, the spinning stopped. It was as though touching the area of tension made it all worse than leaving it be. That told him one thing. This was not a normal headache.

But he really didn't have the time to dwell on the strange ailment. He blinked his eyes and tried to regain his focus. Wait, why was he in Ohio? On a Tuesday? Wasn't he supposed to be at NYADA right now?

Another long blink and Darren felt his eyes grow wide. He had just blanked out of himself. It was almost like Darren didn't exist for a moment and it was all Blaine. Oh dear God, if this adventure was putting a time limit to how long Darren was in existence in this reality, that was going to complicate things a whole lot more.

He couldn't have himself losing his own sense of self. Than this reality, or whatever it was that was against him achieving what he was trying to do would win and he couldn't have that.

Thinking quickly, Darren grabbed a notebook he had purchased the day before to keep important notes about all this down in from the backseat and pulled the pen from his shirt pocket. Opening it to a clean page he quickly jotted down his own basic information. His name. How old he was. What his job was. And most importantly, what he felt his mission was here in this reality. Than, whenever he had a moment where he felt he was losing himself, he could refer back to the information and hopefully it would keep his sense of Darren intact.

After several long moments of staring at the mundane information, he scribbled one final note at the bottom, a written confession of something he felt he probably always knew deep down but never actually realized it. He stared at the confession for a moment longer before flipping the notebook shut and tossing it back in the backseat.

Not wanting to give himself anymore time to flip out over what he had to do, the curly haired man started the car and headed off for McKinley.

It didn't take him long to realize that he didn't even know where McKinley was located. Glee had never given the school an address. All he knew was that it was in Lima. This was proving to be even more ridiculous than he had originally thought.

Pulling over with a sigh, he pulled the cell phone from his pocket and put in a call to Mr. Karofsky.

"Blaine?" the man said when he answered he phone. He sounded concerned.

"Sorry to bothered you Mr. Karofsky sir, but I wondered if you could tell me the address of McKinley. I kind of didn't realize until I was going to head there that I didn't know where it was."

The man chuckled at the sheepish tone in his voice. "Sure thing," he replied before giving him the address. Darren took note of it in his head and thanked him. "No problem."

Hanging up the phone, he pulled back onto the road with the address in his head. He was a bit surprised to find that despite never actually having been there, he seemed to know how to navigate the streets of Lima pretty well. Of course, this Lima was likely quite a bit different from what he thought was the real one. For one thing, there was no William McKinley High School in the real Lima, Ohio. In fact, given the curious research he'd done, they didn't even have a normal high school at all.

But Darren supposed that Blaine knew his way around Lima because of the Lima Bean, which was surely in Lima. And Breadstix. He wondered momentarily if it was true that the breadsticks there weren't really all that good like plenty of the kids seemed to complain about. He made a mental note to stop by and pick up cheesecake for Kurt the next time he went to see him.

It did cross his mind that Kurt might question how he knew what his favorite dessert was so instead, he decided to play the let's get to know each other card on his next visit. Ask Kurt about the things that he technically already knew and maybe find out some stuff about him he didn't know. Surely there were things about Kurt Hummel Chris didn't even know.

His musings came to a stop as he saw McKinley on the horizon. He prepared himself for what he might find, taking a few deep breaths and gripping the steering wheel that much tighter. This was pretty nerve wracking.

The parking lot was pretty full granted that it was a school day and students were likely in their morning classes by this time. But somehow he managed to find a space anyway, parking the rental car and killing the engine. He sat there for a moment, trying to collect himself before grabbing the notebook and getting out of the car.

He felt like time was slowing down and moving in slow motion as he made the walk to the front doors of the school. Because of the set on Glee, he had a pretty good idea on how to find his way to the office. It was just going to be strange because this was a full high school rather than just a set on a sound stage.

It seemed to be almost dead silent when he reached the door. The sound of it opening echoed louder than it probably normally would. But that was likely due to his own nerves because truth be told, he felt like he could hear his own heart pounding in his ears. He didn't know why he was so nervous. Was it the idea of talking to the real Sue Sylvester and feeling that he likely would get nowhere with her? Or possibly talking to Figgins and finding he couldn't understand the man's accent? He just couldn't get his mind to settle.

But when he reached the glass windowed office, and quite easily as he had expected, it wasn't Sue Sylvester who sat behind the desk in the inner office. Nor was it even Figgins. To his great surprise and also confusion, Mr. Schue was sat behind the desk. Darren couldn't for the life of him figure out what chain of events had changed to lead to this. It didn't make sense.

He tried not to think too much into it as he entered the office and offered the secretary what he hoped was a friendly smile.

"Hi, I wondered if I might speak to the principal please?" he said, Blaine's politeness coming ever so easily to him.

The secretary pushed a button. "Will, a young man is here to see you. Do you have a moment?" Darren saw Mr. Schue look up from his desk with a bewildered expression. He pushed a similar button, which the curly haired man now realized seemed kind of odd. He was used to the McKinley principal yelling out to the secretary, like Sue often did to Becky.

"Sure," he heard Will's voice come through the intercom box. "Send him in." The secretary nodded her head toward the door.

"Thank you," Darren said before proceeding to the inner office. He found himself filled with questions about more than the reason he was actually here right now but he squashed them down. How Mr. Schue had become principal wasn't important right now. Facts that could help him in Kurt's case were.

Mr. Schue stood from his desk and held out a hand. "Hi, I'm Principal Will Schuester," he introduced and Darren suppressed the urge to say, 'I know.'

"Blaine Anderson," he replied easily instead, taking the proffered hand for a shake.

"Why don't you have a seat Blaine?" he said, indicating the chairs in front of the desk. Darren nodded his thanks and took a seat. "What can I do for you?" Mr. Schue asked as soon as he was settled.

The twenty-seven year old bit his lip. "I know this is going to sound strange and may bring up some feelings but I wondered if I could talk to you about Kurt Hummel," he said.

Mr. Schue sighed lightly. "Such a waste of perfectly amazing talent. I kind of feel bad I never told him I thought he was one day going to revolutionize the Broadway stage. Maybe that would have stopped him from throwing it all away." Darren bit back the retort to argue in Kurt's favor. What the hell? Wasn't Mr. Schue supposed to be on his side?

He cleared his throat and concentrated on keeping his voice pleasant. "Mr. Schue sir, Kurt's actions were out of self-defense. Had he not even made an attempt to ward David off, he would be the one lying in a coffin buried beneath the earth."

The man seemed to try and get a reading off of him for a moment. "First of all, that came out wrong. Kurt's life is indeed much more important than saving his future and he had such a bright one but the bullying persisted every single day. He was at the end of his rope I imagine," he said. "Secondly, I'm not sure how you know so much. I don't recognize you at all, if you'll forgive me."

"It's been in the news and I went to see Kurt yesterday. I'm working to get him his freedom," Darren said quickly. That seemed to satisfy Mr. Schue.

"I'm not going to lie and say I don't feel guilty," the man said next. "We all do. For not trying hard enough to actually put an end to it. Or more importantly, prove to Kurt that we did care as much as we claimed." Darren didn't say anything. So the man went on. "Coach Sylvester was the only one who actually tried to do anything. But when her efforts backfired, she resigned as principal and tried to be a better pair of eyes in the hall. David turned out to be smarter than even we knew.

"And things escalated. They got worse. Kurt tried so hard to be strong about it. That was one thing different about him than so many other kids in his situation. He never once felt the will to die. He never had suicidal thoughts and always kept his mind on his future. I think that is the reason why he fought back during that fateful attack," he continued on. Darren still didn't say anything. He felt like Mr. Schue had a bit to explain and he was going to wait until he was clearly finished with whatever it was he had to say.

"But like I said, we all feel guilty. Figgins resigned at the end of the year, Kurt's senior year. He felt too guilty, he didn't think he could work in this school anymore. I think he's even left Ohio. Anyway, when he resigned, the school board offered the position to Coach Sylvester but she turned it down." That bit of information surprised Darren. Why would Sue Sylvester turn down an offer to be in charge in a way that she could officially end the Glee Club? "She felt that regardless, she still had more power where she could be out in the halls, keeping an eye on everything as much as possible. So, they offered the position to me. I accepted. It gave me a reason to keep the Glee Club for certain."

So that was why Mr. Schue was principal and even though he had explained the Sue thing, Darren still didn't quite understand why she had refused the offer to be principal.

"Okay, about Kurt's senior year, I understand he was running for class president?" he asked then, veering the conversation to one of the topics he wanted sufficient answers to.

Mr. Schue folded his hands on his desk. "No," he said and Darren furrowed his brow. "I don't know where you heard that, but Kurt never ran for class president. Coach Beiste talked him about giving it a try but he turned it down, telling her that there was no way anyone in the school would ever even consider voting for him, not when Rick Nelson was running. Except for maybe his friends."

Okay, so this was a completely different situation than what Darren had been thinking. And another thing, wasn't Rachel the one who encouraged him to run for senior class president? Things just weren't adding up.

"I thought Rachel encouraged him to run," he said aloud, seeming to no longer care that he was spewing information he probably should have no way of knowing. Mr. Schue raised an eyebrow.

"Rachel Berry you mean?" Darren nodded. "Maybe in some alternate reality," he said and if only he knew how close to home he had just hit. "Kurt and Rachel had an interesting relationship. One minute they were best friends, the next they were jumping down each other's throats. In any case, when the race started, Rachel entered to run against Rick and Brittany. She did it because she hadn't landed the role of Maria in West Side Story. It went to Mercedes," he went on.

Well that was interesting. Apparently in this reality, people had no problem telling Rachel no and Mercedes had ultimately claimed the role of Maria. It also had him realizing that since Blaine didn't go to McKinley, someone else had to have landed the role of Tony and Darren knew that had Blaine not gotten it, Kurt likely would have been cast.

"You see, Rachel was already angry at Kurt for auditioning for Tony against his stepbrother Finn. In her mind, she and Finn were born to play those roles." Okay, that was different too. Finn hadn't even bothered to audition for West Side Story at all.

"Wasn't he too worried about that scholarship game to audition?" Darren asked. Mr. Schue just laughed.

"No. Finn already had a scholarship. Coach Beiste pulled some strings for him with Cooter Menkins. She had Finn on a pedestal. He had even already attended some actual training sessions with the Buckeyes." So that was another difference. Apparently the real Finn was a lot better player than Cory's portrayal had shown.

There was a moment of silence as Finn's name seemed to hang in the air for a bone chilling moment, both of them reflecting in their own grief. Mr. Schue for Finn and Darren for Cory.

"Anyway, Rachel was furious at Kurt for even considering such a thing. But Kurt told her he had just as much right to prove he could be leading man material as anyone else," the man continued.

"Okay, so what happened?" Darren asked.

"Kurt overhead, Coach Beiste, Miss. Pillsbury, and Artie discussing their candidates for Tony. They said that talent-wise and personality-wise, Kurt was perfect for the role, but that they were probably going to go with Finn because he exhibited the masculinity that Tony empowered."

Darren felt a bit of anger well with him. They thought that Kurt deserved the role but they weren't going to give it to him because they thought he was too feminine?

"That's discrimination!" he shouted, pounding a fist on Mr. Schue's desk. The man did not react to the action.

"I know. And believe me, the three of them felt bad about it later. It was this particular argument that ultimately lead to the attack for which Kurt is behind bars." This caught Darren's attention and he leaned closer.

"What did he do?" he asked in anticipation.

"By this time, Kurt was well versed in confronting people when he had a problem with them. He cornered Coach Beiste and did just that. It was her who had made the strongest point against his masculinity. She tried to avoid the topic. That was when she suggested he join the presidential race. He apparently said to her, and I quote, 'Are you blind?! In case you haven't noticed, I happen to be the school punching bag! No one in this school would even so much as consider voting for me! I have more chance of fairly landing Tony than I do of becoming senior class president! And apparently I don't even have a fair chance of that because why? Oh right, I'm too feminine for your goddamn lady parts! You people claim you do care but you know what? Refusing to give me a part because I may not be as masculine as you like makes you just as discriminating as the students in this school!' And then he stormed out," he concluded.

Darren had to admit, he was impressed. He never would have expected Kurt to lash out that big, though he did have his moments.

"But he achieved his goal," Mr. Schue went on. "When the cast list went up, it was Kurt's name beside the role of Tony. This infuriated Rachel even more and she claimed that Kurt didn't deserve that role. It ultimately lead to her making the debate speech that would result in her winning the election."

The twenty-seven year old was afraid to ask, but he needed to know the details of why Rachel didn't seem to care about Kurt anymore. It all tied into the attack. Kurt having been Tony had something to do with both Rachel's success in the election and the attack that landed him behind bars. Darren had known that if there was any place to get the most sufficient details, McKinley was it. Right to the source.

"What did she say?" he asked in a very quiet voice.

"Long story short, she made a speech about stereotypes and how feminine males shouldn't try to do masculine things. It had this underlying hint that she was calling Kurt out and that seemed to turn the student body in her favor. Because despite never liking Rachel, in their eyes, she was point blank insulting the school fag—excuse my language—and that was a plus for them. Rachel played the race like a dirty politician. You would have thought she was running for the national presidential election rather than class president. In addition, she threw Kurt under the bus by painting him in a bad light and Finn in a shining one. I'm pretty sure her dads still haven't forgiven her for it."

Well, that explained a lot. "Yeah, I don't think she wants to make amends either," Darren said. Mr. Schue gave him an odd look. "Sorry. Actually, I go to NYADA and I ran into Rachel the other day. When I asked her about Kurt, she pretty much told me just to forget about him. He wasn't important as long as he was behind bars. Like he didn't matter."

The man frowned and shook his head sadly. "Rachel's been known to hold grudges. But at the same time she'll try anything to end an argument with a friend," he admitted. That was true. "Wait, if you're a NYADA student, why are you here? Shouldn't you be in New York right now?" he asked.

Darren sighed and ran a hand over his face. "It's complicated," he replied. "But I have someone handling it for me, no worries." Mr. Schue looked unconvinced but nodded anyway. "So you said the whole Tony thing was what lead to the attack that put Kurt behind bars?" he said, intending to keep them on topic.

"Yeah. Unbeknown to Kurt, someone had invited David to opening night. We still don't know who or even why he would accept the invite. David certainly wasn't a fan of the arts." Darren nodded. "Anyway, he showed up and was there, watching Kurt play a role that David, like Rachel, felt he had no right to play. McKinley's production of West Side Story only ever did that one show. The next day, everyone arrived at school to the news that the production was being shut down and Kurt had been arrested."

"Why would they broadcast something like that to the entire school?" Darren asked, slightly appalled.

"The authorities were there. They wanted a word with anyone who knew Kurt personally and Figgins felt the students had a right to know why they were being questioned." That made sense. Still, that didn't mean he had to broadcast it to the entire school.

Darren tapped his chin for a moment. "So than, the attack had to have happened sometime on opening night," he noted aloud. Mr. Schue nodded. "I hate to ask, but did Rachel bite into Kurt when she was questioned?"

"That was the surprising thing. Rachel actually refused to speak to authorities or even reporters when they came by, which was completely unheard of if you're talking about Rachel Berry."

Darren was quiet for a moment. "That suggests that she knew something about the whole thing that nobody else did." Mr. Schue nodded.

"As much as I hate to say it, Rachel is guilty of something she refused to tell anyone. And she still hasn't. Your guess as to what, is as good as mine."

"You may not have an idea, but I think I know who might know something," Darren said, surprising the man.

"Oh?"

He nodded. "After I saw Kurt yesterday, I went to have a chat with Paul Karofsky." Mr. Schue's eyes widened a bit. "And he told me that that Jacob kid came to him and confessed that he'd filmed the entire attack." Mr. Schue's eyes widened even more. "Now, unless Jacob is a mind reader, which I highly doubt, he couldn't have possibly known that there was even going to be an attack that night. Which means…" "…someone had to tip him off," Mr. Schue finished for him in awe. Darren nodded and stood up, having gathered all he really could from the situation.

"The attack wasn't planned, but it wasn't spontaneous either. Someone knowingly set Kurt up for something, whether they knew just how dangerous it would get remains to be seen. My one lead is that Jacob told Paul that he was applying for TMZ. I'm going to check and see if he succeeded. If he did, I plan on making contact with him and hopefully, not only convincing him to come forward with the tape that would grant Kurt his freedom as it is proof he was acting in self-defense, but also put in the last piece of the puzzle and as much as I hate to say it, I have a sneaking suspicion that last piece has the initials RB."

Mr. Schue stood as well. "You do realize that if Rachel is in fact guilty in leading Kurt into some kind of danger, he can press charges against her for life endangerment?" he asked and Darren nodded.

"Yes, but if she has any ounce of guilt for what she did in her, clinging to the thread of friendship she surely still has within her for Kurt, she won't put up a fuss. And it's up to Kurt if he wants to press the charges that could ultimately tear down the life she's worked so hard to build."

There was a moment of silence before the other man replied. "I don't think Kurt has it in his heart to do something like that."

"I don't either," Darren agreed. "Thank you for your time Mr. Schue. You've been much more helpful than I even anticipated," he said holding out his hand for another shake.

"Not a problem Blaine. Glad I could be of help," the man replied, smiling and shaking Darren's hand. "Have a good day."

"You too." And with that, he turned and headed out of the office, knowing now, his direction was clear because a lot of questions had been answered. All that was left was to confirm his suspicions that Rachel had more to do with this than she was letting on and to get Jacob to come forth with the evidence. That, he reckoned, might just end up being the most difficult thing he would ever have to do.

Though he had come a long way, he still had a long way to go.


	12. Chapter Ten

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we are guys! I thought we needed to see what was going on in NY right at the moment. It means no Kurt or Darren in this chapter but I feel the readers need to see the situation from the mind of someone involved, even in a bad way. Rachel maybe be more intense here but this is technically an AU so the "real" Rachel is apparently worse than Rachel as we know her. Anyway, I thought this was important.
> 
> Thanks to ChrisCalledMeSweetie for the continued devotion. I wouldn't still be writing this if it weren't for you!
> 
> Comments and kudos make me smile. Enjoy!

Rachel Berry was at the end of her rope. She was at the end of her rope because she knew something was going on. It had to be. Otherwise why was Kurt's well being so important to someone who he had never even met before? It was why she had contacted Santana that day.

It was why the Latina was currently watching the short brunette pace their living room floor with a bored look on her face. Brittany sat beside her, grinning all the wider as she clutched Santana's arm.

"I don't see why this is such an issue to you man hands," Santana said in a bored tone. She folded her arms across her chest and studied the nails on her right hand. "So he went to Ohio, big deal."

Rachel turned on her, eyes wide with eminent fear. "He what?" She stared at Santana for a good minute before tearing her eyes away.

"He went to Ohio," Santana repeated nonchalantly. "Britts ran into him at the airport and he was boarding the plane I flew in on last Sunday."

This did nothing for Rachel's nerves. She only began to pace harder, twisting her hands together, an action that was a very un-Rachel Berry like thing to do. The Latina couldn't understand why this was bothering her so much. It was clear that there was something that dealt with Kurt that had been niggling at Rachel ever since the attack on opening night. Something the brunette hadn't told anyone. Or wouldn't. Not even Finn had known.

"I have to tell you something Santana," she said in a quiet shaky voice. That was all it took for Santana to realize that this was a lot more serious than she had initially thought. Rachel was going to divulge a secret she'd been keeping for a couple of years and if her vocal prowess was less than evident, she was severely worried about whatever it was.

She raised an eyebrow and glanced at Brittany for a moment. "What are you so afraid of Berry?" she asked.

Rachel glanced between Santana and Brittany before giving the Latina a pleading look. Santana knew what that meant. She wanted her to kick Brittany out but fat chance. Whatever Rachel had to say had to be important enough to say in front of Brittany or else it really wasn't important at all.

"If this is so important to you, you can say it in front of Britts," she said firmly.

Again the brunette glanced between them and Santana was sure she saw her complexion pale. The thing was, the Latina knew more than she was even telling Brittany. Like the boy who claimed to be Blaine Anderson wasn't actually the real Blaine Anderson. Nor was he really eighteen or nineteen years old either.

Santana may have been one of the last people for the mysteries of the world at work to enlist as an accomplice. But that was exactly why she was. The connection that she had been able to make through to what the man who claimed to be Blaine would call the real world was enough to have her wondering just how far the laws of science really could breech on what was possible and what was not.

She had to admit, it was somewhat creepy to hear this man who sounded every bit the same as Kurt did on the other end of that very staticky line but being Santana, she would never admit to that.

And it was just that fact that had her knowing exactly why she was doing this. Despite what some people may think, Santana and Kurt had been rather close in high school. He was there to answer her questions when she was questioning her own sexuality. He was kind of the rock that she never knew she needed. Though she would never tell anyone that aloud. She was the only one of his friends left who was still visiting him. That had to say something. No wonder whatever supernatural forces were at work here had chosen her to be the link, the one who knew everything about what was actually going on.

That still didn't explain Berry's predicament or strange actions the pass few days. Rachel still hadn't said anything and frankly, Santana was getting tired of waiting.

"Look Berry, Britts and I have dinner reservations so either get out with it now or don't. Your call."

Rachel was quiet for another moment before she glanced down at the ground. "I may have been the one responsible for Karofsky's presence that night," she finally managed to whisper.

"Are you stupid hobbit?!" Santana retorted immediately, jumping to her feet. "You knew the extent of the situation and that David had it out for Kurt! Why would you even put him in that situation?!"

"I didn't think he'd actually try to kill him!" Rachel shouted back.

An uncomfortable silence filled the apartment as Santana just stared at Rachel with a look of utmost hatred. A glance at Brittany told the Latina the blonde was near tears. When Santana spoke again, it was with no ounce of emotion in her voice.

"You really didn't think David Karofsky would attempt to kill Kurt? After how clear he had persistently been about how much he wanted him dead?" she bit out, coming a few steps closer to the smaller girl who was now trembling with fear.

"I was blinded with rage!" she tried to excuse but it was useless.

"For what? For Kurt exercising his right to audition for the lead just like anybody else?" Santana said coldly. That hit a nerve and she could see the guilt written all over Rachel's face. "Are you aware that your precious Finn almost did get the role?"

Rachel looked up, surprised for a minute. "I…what?"

Santana nodded. "Oh yeah. They were going to give the role to Finn. The only reason it ended up going to Kurt was because he overheard them discussing it and called Coach Beiste out on being just as discriminating as the kids in the school, despite claiming that she actually cared about his well being!" Rachel just stared at her. "That's right man hands. They were going to deny Kurt the role for the exact same reason you underlined in your presidential election speech. Because he was apparently too feminine."

If Rachel hadn't felt guilty before, she certainly would now. Kurt had fought tooth and nail against everyone for the same right to a fair audition as everyone else. And when he had been successful, she had used her blind rage to drive the reason why he shouldn't play Tony home more forcefully than a stake to a vampire's heart. In all truth, one of her underlying reasons for not wanting Kurt to have a chance to play Tony was that she didn't want to have to act like she was in love with her gay best friend. She didn't think he could convincingly pass as being in love with a female and kissing him would just be plain weird. She felt guilty for that too.

As it were, she didn't even have to worry because she didn't get the part anyway. Mercedes had, officially making McKinley's West Side Story leads the most diverse of any production most likely. Really, a gay boy as the butch Tony and a bigger African-American girl as the Latina Maria. Had the production played through naturally, that might have made headlines.

At the time, she had thought the idea of Mercedes playing Maria was absurd but more insight into the Broadway world she loved so much had taught Rachel that it was actually really similar to how the role of Mimi in RENT was done on Broadway. The character was Latina so it was often either a Latina or an African-American female was cast. In retrospect, Rachel would never have been considered for Mimi but both Mercedes and Santana would have been. That was fine though. Rachel would rather play Maureen anyway. Maybe because the character wasn't so far off of who Rachel was herself.

In any case, all the overwhelming guilt had finally lead to this moment, to her confession of her involvement in what had happened that night. She wasn't going to go into detail. Her goal had been to ruin Kurt. Santana didn't need to know that though.

She didn't need to know that Rachel had paid Karofsky to show up on opening night and afterward to teach Kurt a lesson that would hopefully stay with him permanently. She didn't need to know that she had used Jacob's infatuation with her to easily tip him off that there was going to be a protest about Kurt playing the lead. Or that she didn't have to even pay him to post the impending confrontation on McKinley's website for the whole school to see. Jacob Ben Israel would do anything for Rachel Berry, despite her disgust.

No. Santana didn't need to know any of that. Just the mere confession that she was the one who had gotten Karofsky to show up that night was enough to make the Latina furious.

"You need to find another place to live," Santana said cooly, grabbing her coat off the rack and nodding toward Brittany who was unusually quiet and livid looking. The blonde stood on shaky legs to follow her girlfriend to the front door. "It's not up for discussion. Britts and I are going to dinner and out for the evening. We'll be home around eleven so you better not be." She opened the door and paused. "You can come back to get your things but otherwise, I want you out."

Rachel didn't say anything as she watched Santana and Brittany leave, shutting the door sharply behind them. She didn't have any right to protest. This was Santana's apartment after all. She was paying for it with the fund her mother had given her. She had been doing a rare charity by allowing Rachel to stay there.

The brunette forced back the tears that were blooming in her eyes as she headed to her room and pulled out her suitcase. She knew she had done wrong. She had done wrong and she really had no right to cry over it. Her dads were still stiff with her. Neither of them had ever completely forgiven her for how she had won the election. And why should they? By saying all that stuff about Kurt she was indirectly attacking them too. Rachel had forever severed that bond she had with her dads and she couldn't put words to how much she regretted it.

And of course, there was Kurt. For a long time, Rachel had thought herself the victim of all this. It had taken her a great deal of time to realize she was not. She was the attacker. So she'd lost the lead in West Side Story and the trust of her parents, so what? Kurt had lost something much worse. His freedom. While she freely attended NYADA and starred on Broadway fulfilling the dream that was both theirs, Kurt sat behind the cold metal bars of a cell in Ohio, being told when to eat, what to wear, when to shower, when to have recreational time, and how long he was allowed to visit with a loved one.

Rachel knew she could never really understand the reality of the situation Kurt was stuck in. She wouldn't unless she was ever in prison. With all this catching up to her, she was seeing how much freedom was a virtue. How precious it actually was.

Kurt had less freedom than she did to begin with. Rachel could marry and have a family with whomever and wherever she wanted. Kurt could only get married in places where gay marriage was legal. Many people out there exercised their beliefs that homosexuals did not deserve the same kind of freedom in love and life as heterosexuals did. Kurt's freedom had already been compromised just because of his sexuality.

As these thoughts caught up with her, Rachel finally stopped fighting the urge to cry and despite still believing she had no right to, let the tears finally fall. She had a place she could go. She could stay with one of her former cast members of Funny Girl. At least for a brief time. She didn't know what she was going to do after that, though the thought of unfortunately moving back into the dorms had crossed her mind.

She sniffled and sobbed her way through her packing efforts. If she could get enough of it now, she wouldn't need to come back later. Really though, all she had were clothes, toiletries, accessories, and scented candles. She could leave those behind. The candles.

Rachel would be lying if she said that her life after McKinley had been exactly as she had pictured it. What she had never told anyone was that she had often pictured Kurt beside her in everything she was doing because he was meant to be there. But she refused to let anyone see that she felt that guilty over it.

She was terrified to go back to Ohio and visit him at the prison. Would he even forgive her for what she had done? Her reason for trying to enforce the belief that as long as he was behind bars, he didn't matter, was that she didn't want him to remember her for what happened. She had the tiniest spark of hope that he would forget and they could heal as friends. But Kurt would never forget. And though he had always been one to forgive people when they were in the wrong, she wasn't expecting him to forgive her either. Especially not if he knew that she was the reason Karofsky had been there that night.

"I sold you out," she whispered in a choked voice. She latched her suitcase shut and sniffled. "I'm so sorry Kurt."

The eerie silence in the apartment she was no longer welcome in was unsettling. Rachel stood slowly and grabbed her coat, even though it wasn't necessarily freezing. It was late April after all.

She wrapped a hand around the handle of her suitcase and took one last fleeting look at the place. Then, with tears still flowing down her face, Rachel dropped her keys on the coffee table and walked out, never once looking back at the place she could no longer call home.


	13. Chapter Eleven

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, sorry this is late today. I had several distractions while I was writing that made me stop. Anyway, I wasn't sure where to go next exactly, which was why I wrote the Rachel chapter yesterday. So, I sat down to see what came out and this happened. Sorry guys, but things just got even more complicated and there is a bit of a twist in the horizon that might take this story in a whole new direction. Hold onto your hats!
> 
> Thanks ever so much to ChrisCalledMeSweetie. You are still keeping me writing the next chapter everyday.
> 
> Comments and kudos make me smile. Enjoy!

Whatever Darren had expected to happen next in this adventure, it wasn't to be awoken in the middle of the night by pounding on his hotel room door.

And if that wasn't what he had been expecting, he further had not expected what he found when he opened the door, eyes drooping with sleep.

Standing at the door was Burt Hummel, Kurt's father. Darren didn't have a clue what he was doing there or how he found him or even how he knew about him. This didn't make any sense. Of course, neither did Burt Hummel pounding down someone's door in the middle of the night.

"You Blaine Anderson?" the man asked. The younger man blinked sleep from his eyes and tried to comprehend what was going on. It took him a moment to really get his bearings and he nodded his head, not sure what else to do. "You're trying to free Kurt?" That caught Darren's attention.

"How do you know that?" he asked quietly.

"First Kurt told me you'd been there to visit him on Monday. Carole and I were by later that afternoon. Then Paul Karofsky called me, said you'd been by to ask a few things concerning the situation," Burt said.

Well, that made perfect sense for how he knew about him and what he was trying to do. But it didn't cover how Burt knew where to find him. Darren had told no one what hotel he was staying at. It didn't make sense that Burt would be able to track him down so easily. But than, neither did waking up in the body of a fictional character he played on TV. Given that, he shrugged the thought off.

He opened the door wider as Burt stepped into the room, moving to sit on the end of the bed and remaining quiet for several moments. Wait, if Burt had learned this on Monday, why was he only just now coming banging on the door at three in the morning on Wednesday?

"Forgive me, but why are you here?" he asked, shutting the door behind the man, giving a neighbor who had been woken up by the pounding an apologetic look. Burt sighed and scrubbed a hand over his face.

"I thought Kurt might be here," he said. Whatever Darren had been expecting him to say, it hadn't been that.

"What are you talking about?" he asked, confusion lacing his voice.

Burt was quiet for a moment, turning his head to stare out the window. "Kurt's missing Blaine," he finally said and the twenty-seven year old raised his eyebrows. How the hell was Kurt missing? Why was he missing? What about prison security? Wouldn't it have been breeched? Did Kurt try to escape prison? No, he wouldn't have done that. Kurt was the kind of person who never did anything wrong on purpose. He would have taken his sentence quietly. He never would have tried to escape. So than, what happened?

"So why did you think he might be with me?" he asked quietly, giving his head a shake.

"Forgive me kid, but I thought for a moment, you might have broken him out," came the reply.

Darren furrowed his brow. "First off, I have no idea how to execute something like that successfully. I would have gotten caught for sure. You know how stupid it is to attempt to break someone out of prison? Or even try to break out from the inside?" he said, causing Burt to look a little guilty. "Secondly, I wouldn't do it that way anyway. If I'm going to get Kurt out, I'm going to do it right," he said. "That starts by tracking down Jacob Ben Israel."

Burt gave him a look. "What does he have to do with any of this?" he asked quietly.

"He filmed the attack," Darren replied, watching as Burt's eyes went round as saucers. "Mr. Karofsky said he was supposed to apply for TMZ so I can start there." He paused for a moment before deciding to add in something he felt Burt had the right to know. "And after I spoke with Mr. Schue at McKinley, I think Rachel knows more about the set up than she's letting on."

Instead of a retaliation like he expected from Mr. Hummel, the man's eyes became uncharacteristically dark. He pounded a fist into his hand. "After what she put Kurt through, I wouldn't put it passed her. Finn never quite forgave her for those things. It was the first time he honestly took Kurt's side over Rachel.'s."

That said a lot about Finn and how much he had actually grown to care about his stepbrother. If he were alive now, he would probably be working right alongside Darren to try and free Kurt. Maybe, he would even go to TMZ in New York so Darren could stay and work the Lima side of the situation. Would he have risked possibly running into Rachel to help his stepbrother?

"Tell me more about Kurt being missing," he said, attempting to halt the impending moment of grief that was already starting to settle in around them. He had no right to grieve. He wasn't supposed to know Finn.

Burt sighed. "I guess I kind of jumped to conclusions. I didn't want to believe it, what they told me when they called yesterday."

A chilling fear crawled up the younger man's spine. "Didn't want to believe what?" he forced himself to ask.

The man glanced toward the window momentarily before turning his gaze back on him and locking his eyes and Darren was so grateful in that moment that Kurt didn't get his eyes from his dad because he didn't think he could stare into yet another set of those piercing glasz eyes without experiencing the heartache that had been slowly building since he had left his own reality behind.

Burt licked his lips nervously. "That someone kidnapped him." Darren felt his eyes go wide. "However Kurt got out of there, it wasn't willingly. I know he wasn't silly enough to try and break out. He'd already told me he was going to wait out his sentence and walk out of prison with his head held high." He paused for a moment, seemingly in thought. "But his cell Blaine, it was ransacked. And…there was blood on the wall." An even colder fear rolled up the younger man's backside now. "Not a lot," Burt hastened to add. "But enough to know someone was injured. They're still waiting on the results."

Darren began pacing. This didn't sound right. Who could get into a prison, attack a prisoner in a way that left the cell ransacked, and get out again all without causing enough ruckus to alert the guards? And if the blood turned out to be Kurt's, that left them at a dead end because they still wouldn't know who his attacker was.

"The rampage had to have been staged," he said. Burt's eyes went wide and he opened his mouth to question him but Darren quickly shook his head. "No one can break into a prison, ransack a cell, and get back out without causing a ruckus and alerting guards. It's not possible," he said.

"But why would they take Kurt and stage such a thing? Why would Kurt go along with this?" Burt asked.

The curly haired man sucked on his bottom lip for a moment. "I don't think Kurt was aware he was a part of whatever this is. And I think it may have been staged because a kidnapping might be more believable than what actually happened." He paused and thought harder, a sudden dreadful realization hitting him. "In fact, I think no one ever actually entered or left that cell. That's why there was no noise to alert the guards."

Burt looked at him with the strangest expression he had ever seen in his life. "Are you saying you think Kurt just vanished from the cell?" he asked.

"As far fetched as it sounds, yes." The thing was, to Darren, it didn't sound far fetched anymore. He had basically just vanished from his room in his own reality without a trace. So why couldn't the same have happened to Kurt?

But did that mean that there was a force working against whatever had brought him here? That something was trying to stop him from accomplishing what he had set out to do? Taking Kurt away to some unknown locale was certainly going to complicate matters. With Kurt successfully out of prison, even if he did manage to convince Jacob to come forward with the evidence, the authorities may override it and look at the situation of Kurt being gone from his cell as him being an escaped fugitive.

There were two things the twenty-seven year old was starting to have issues understanding anymore. Science and justice. This was starting to twist the whole situation into a massive ball of confusion. There was a force much stronger than fate at work here.

And suddenly, he was wide awake. He didn't think he could sleep another wink if he wanted to. He grabbed his suitcase which he had stored in the closet and started toward the door.

"You're not going to run, are you kid?" Burt asked in surprise.

Darren shook his head. "No," he said. "But I hoped maybe I could come stay at your house? You have connections to Kurt's friends and stuff. I feel like I might be able to make better progress if I had access to people," he explained nervously.

Burt stood from the bed and moved to clap a hand on his shoulder. "Good thinking Blaine. We'll get through this together," he said. And Darren was never more happy that Burt liked Blaine than he was in that moment.

But even as the man was leading him to his car which was parked outside the hotel, he could still feel his mind reeling. Not that he didn't want to work together with Burt, but unless he told him the truth about who he was and how he'd gotten there and why he was so set on getting Kurt out of prison, Darren realized that there was going to be an awful lot they would not be able to discuss together.

The question was could he trust that Burt would believe him? He knew that the man might be open to more of the nonsensical stuff but that didn't mean that he would be first in line to believe what Darren told him. He needed a second hand. Someone who knew everything and could corroborate his story, back him up. But no one knew the truth.

Well, not that Darren knew of anyway.

He sat in Burt's car a number of moments later, turning this all over in his head. He wasn't sure what his next step was going to be. Sure, he was still intent on tracking Jacob down but that wasn't going to do him any good if Kurt was missing, now was it?

"You okay kid?" Burt said from the driver's seat, snapping Darren out of his thoughts and causing the younger man to look his way.

"I'm fine. Just trying to figure out what my next move is going to be," he admitted. That was really only part of the truth. But he couldn't very well tell Burt the rest of it. Not yet anyway.

The man let out a breath. "You still going to track down Jacob?" he asked.

"Yes. But not until we find Kurt. There's no point in him coming forward if there's no accused to prove the innocence for," he replied. He watched Burt nod his head in understanding. Because without Kurt, Jacob's efforts may be futile right then.

A missing Kurt was an unexpected development and now Darren was finding that not only was he going to have to figure out a new direction to take, he was also going to have to fight to keep his own sanity intact. Ever since he had scrawled his basics into the notebook the day before, he had to look at it maybe a dozen times as his memory seemed to become fuzzy more often than not in less than twenty-four hours. It scared the hell out of him.

It was this thought exactly that had Darren making the decision that he needed to tell someone the whole truth. If he didn't, he could very well end up forgetting his own sense of self. Because without telling someone, he couldn't talk about himself with them and keep it fresh in his mind that he was Darren Criss and not really Blaine Anderson.

Blaine Anderson did not really exist. Kurt Hummel did not really exist. Burt Hummel did not really exist. These were all things that by now, the twenty-seven year old was second guessing because according to this reality, they very well did exist. They were real people that he could talk to and touch. Well, he couldn't talk to Blaine. But that was beside the point.

And then a completely new question popped into his head. If he was in Blaine's body, where in the world was Blaine? The real Blaine couldn't have just disappeared into thin air right? He desperately wished he had some way to talk to Chris, to tell the man what was going on. Could they breech the lines between realities and maybe work together? No. Probably not.

Besides, he didn't even know if Chris was worried about him. Who knew, maybe there was no absence of Darren in the real world. Maybe he was here in spirit but still there in physicality. But that didn't seem right. And the only reason he worried that Chris may not care was because the pale man was clearly frustrated with him for how meager his enthusiasm had been as of late.

 _I'll make it up to you Chris, I promise,_ he thought to himself. _As soon as I get home, I'll make it up to you._

If there was one thing Darren couldn't stand, it was the idea that Chris was mad at him. Seeing anger in those beautiful glasz eyes directed at him was something he never wanted to see ever again. And all he could think about now was how much he wanted to kiss Chris senseless and make him forget all about that anger.

Whoa. Kiss Chris senseless? Where had that come from? The curly haired man fought the urge to blush at the desire, not wanting Burt to see him and question why his face had gone all red. Darren would never be able to explain this.

The disappearance of Kurt gave him more questions than answers and as Burt turned onto the street the Hudmel house was on, he found himself not only wondering what direction to go in next, but also if he would ever get answers to them all.


	14. Chapter Twelve

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh look! I'm posting extremely early today. But I woke up extremely early and I've had the idea that was to be this chapter in my head nagging at me for a while now. The confusion has only just begun. The good news, Kurtie has found the real Blaine. The bad news, Darren has to find Kurtie. You'll see what I mean. I just love making everything twist into a complicated knot of creativity that takes the journey on a spin.
> 
> Thanks to ChrisCalledMeSweetie. I have a feeling this chapter came out so early today because you so desperately wanted it. ;) And thanks to all my readers and the new commenters. Those of you I haven't been replying to, I'm writing this to let you know thank you from the bottom of my heart for commenting. I really appreciate knowing how much you're all enjoying this fic.
> 
> And one more note, this is so far the longest running fic I've kept up with in a while that I didn't have chapters ahead waiting each time I posted.
> 
> Comments and kudos make me smile. Enjoy!

A Remote Location, Outside Ohio

Kurt blinked his eyes open, suddenly aware of the unusual cold that was drafting in around him. It never got that cold in his cell.

The moment his vision adjusted, it was to find he was staring into pitch dark. He could feel the hardness of the wooden chair he found himself sitting on. Also he could feel the press of a second chair at his back, the heat coming from another warm body bouncing into the back of his neck. His hands and feet were free but the press of something into his lower back told him that the chairs were bound together with rope. He could get up and move, but he couldn't take the chair with him.

"Are you okay?" came the voice of the person he was sitting back to back with, startling Kurt and he twisted around, only to find his eyes growing wide like saucers to see those same hazel eyes from a few days ago staring back at him.

"Where are we?" Kurt asked. The other boy shook his head and frowned. Kurt realized he looked quite different than he had on the day he had visited him in prison. His hair was plastered to his head with copious amounts of gel.

"Not sure. Somewhere outside Ohio though. I've been here since Sunday morning," was the other boy's reply.

The last part of his statement had Kurt completely puzzled. How could he have visited him in prison if he had apparently been here since Sunday? Maybe he had a twin brother. That would explain both the difference in hair and the fact that he had apparently visited Kurt in prison. But somehow, Kurt didn't think that was the case and yet, there was something different. He could feel this kinetic pull drawing him closer to this boy. He hadn't felt that way when he had apparently visited him two days earlier.

He decided not to say anything on the matter. "I'm supposed to be in prison," he said instead. He felt the other nod his head.

"I know. I've seen your story on the news. I'm supposed to be in New York," he replied and Kurt furrowed his brow for a moment. "I went to bed in my apartment Saturday and woke up here, Sunday morning," he finished.

Kurt was quiet for a moment. If he had seen his story on the news, he knew who he was. But that wasn't the important thing. That was trying to figure out where they were and what they were doing there. It was almost like they were being held captive for some reason but at the same time, not. If that was the case, they should be bound to the chairs, not freely able to move around.

He took a moment to try and see if he could feel more of his surroundings, squinting his eyes and yet, all he saw was pitch black around him. The one light in the room or where it was they were, hung above their heads.

Kurt's first thought was that they were in some kind of warehouse but did warehouses get to the point of looking like pitch black nothingness?

"Is anyone else here? Do you know who our captor is?" he finally said, craning his neck around to look at the boy, who he was just going to call Blaine because that was the only name he had for the hazel eyed beauty who sat behind him. Thanks to whomever that was who had visited him in prison.

His companion shrugged. "I don't know. I'd been completely alone until you showed up," he told him honestly.

A flash like a sudden bright light illuminated on Kurt, causing the twenty year old to turn back forward before he could reply to what the other boy had said. Blaine. Right, maybe he should ask him what his name was. He made a point to do that after he found out whatever this sudden light was.

"What is that?" he asked aloud, staring at the small far off beacon of white light that seemed to be steadily growing larger as it pulled itself ever closer to them.

"What's what?" the boy asked, twisting his own head around to see what Kurt was staring at. Both of them became transfixed by the unusual glowing light. Neither had a clue what it was and at the same time, neither was afraid of it either.

Slowly it grew larger, advancing on the two boys. Kurt's hands moved down to grip the seat of the wooden chair he was sitting on, knuckles going stark white in contrast to the mahogany wood. It wasn't fear that had him gripping the chair but rather, anticipation, for lack of a better word.

When the light was a favorable amount of distance away, a shape resembling that of a human began to form in the middle. A tall lithe figure with flowing hair. A woman, had to be. It had very feminine curves, much to the likeness of what Kurt thought he would have been drawn to, had he been a straight man. As it were, he was not so her luscious curves had absolutely no effect on him.

The feminine form began to solidify. The hair became flowing strands of blonde, the skin a delicate pale pallor that seemed to rival his own, the dress a slim fitting simple elegant white gown, the feet completely bare. A vision in white she was indeed.

As she came into full being standing in front of them, the light that had grown when she first began to arrive blinked out and her face wore a soft and calming smile. She was not here to harm them. That much was clear. Maybe that was why they weren't tied up.

"Hello Kurt Hummel," she said. Her voice was soft and melodic and for some reason, it reminded Kurt of his own mother, a woman he hadn't heard speak in almost thirteen years. She walked around the two of them until she was facing the other boy. "Hello Blaine Anderson." And for some reason, it did not confuse Kurt when she called the other boy by the name his look alike had introduced himself as. "Now that you are both here, the fun can begin."

Kurt and Blaine glanced at each other in confusion. What on earth was she talking about? Neither said anything.

"I'd like to introduce you to a young man," she went on. She snapped her delicate fingers and out of thin air, a screen appeared, flashing on to reveal Blaine's look alike. She glanced at Blaine when the boy choked in a gasp. "This is Darren Criss," she said. Kurt furrowed his brow. Who was Darren Criss and why had he lied about who he was? "Currently Blaine, people think he's you." She didn't give Blaine a chance to respond but moved around to the other side of the screen. "Because right now, he's supposed to be. He woke up in your life Sunday morning Blaine," she went on. "You see, he comes from an alternate reality. A reality in which all that you know is nothing but the hour traffic of a weekly television show and the both of you, are fictional characters."

Both boys greeted this information with identical wide-eyed expressions. Neither had ever considered the possibility of alternate realities or that they would exist as different people in those realities. The idea sounded far fetched but than they both had just watched a growing ball of light turn into this mysterious woman.

"What's the point of all this?" Blaine finally got out.

A light laugh filled the room and the woman stepped forward, running a delicate finger down the side of Blaine's face.

"To teach Darren a lesson," she said simply, moving back to her screen. That did nothing to appease the confusion that was churning in Kurt's stomach. "You see Blaine, Darren wasn't happy with his storyline playing you," she went on and Blaine just looked at her for a long moment. "He was tired of the fact that his only tie to the show was Blaine's relationship with Kurt."

For the second time in as many minutes, Kurt and Blaine glanced at each other, both of them still with their eyes wide as saucers.

"That's impossible. I've never actually met Kurt," Blaine claimed, Kurt nodding his agreement.

Again, she laughed. "Only because this is the result of a reality in which Kurt did not take up on Puck's suggestion to go spy on the Warblers."

Kurt stared at her in surprise, wondering how she even knew about that. But than, she seemed to know a lot of stuff she couldn't possibly know and she grew from light. Clearly, this was no ordinary woman and for a brief moment, he was suddenly reminded of Glinda from the Wizard of Oz. She materialized from a bubble of odd light too, only not exactly in the way this woman had.

"Because you never went to spy on the Warblers Kurt," she went on, "Everything you've experienced since that day is a direct result of never meeting Blaine. Darren's here to learn how important it is for Blaine and Kurt to be together." She laughed lightly again. "As it is, as much as he had been complaining about a lack of other direction for Blaine, finding you," and here she nodded to Kurt, "Became his first priority the moment he got here."

She moved again, once more to the other side of the screen. "He's had it surprisingly easy so far. He's found a witness for you Kurt," she went on and Kurt's eyes went wide again. "He just has to track him down and convince him to come forward with the evidence." She smiled softly and glanced back at Darren's picture on the screen. "But no one ever learns a lesson when their task unrolls like all the answers are being handed to them on a silver platter. They have to fight for it and that is exactly what I intend to make him do now."

Kurt and Blaine glanced at each other yet again. This was getting more and more confusing. Well, maybe not really confusing but certainly not something they had ever expected.

"And how do you plan on doing that?" Blaine asked, Kurt once more nodding his agreement behind him.

And she laughed yet again. That laugh was eerily like his mother's and Kurt was sure that by the end of this, he would never be able to get it out of his head.

She waved a hand over the screen and the image changed, giving Kurt the strange feeling that he was suddenly staring at his own identical twin, if he were to have one.

"This," she said, "Is Chris Colfer. He plays you Kurt." And if that wasn't the weirdest thing the twenty year old had ever heard before, he didn't know what was. "I really hate to bring him into this because he's done nothing wrong, but Darren's path can't be easy. So if he wants to get you your freedom, he will have to find the real you first. While at the same time battling growing feelings for a man that will suddenly find himself behind bars come the morning."

Kurt wasn't sure whether to be impressed with the woman or appalled with her. These were _people_ she was messing with. Real honest to a God he didn't believe in, people. And sure, they were apparently himself and Blaine from another reality or whatever but that didn't really give her the right to mess with their lives and teach them lessons in odd scientifically impossible ways.

"If everything goes according to plan, everyone gets their happy ending," she said then, smiling softly. So she wanted things to work out for the two men she'd dragged into their world. That made him feel a little better but he still decided he didn't agree with her manner of execution. He didn't say anything though.

Blaine, however, did not feel the need to stay quiet. "That is sick and twisted!" he spit out. "Your motives may be honorable but your execution is appalling!"

To Kurt's surprise, she merely smiled at Blaine and stepped forward to gently pat his cheek.

"I know you don't agree with the way I am doing this Blaine dear," she said and then she glanced at Kurt. "I know neither of you do," she added in, telling him that she could probably read his thoughts. "But no one ever learns anything by taking the easy way out," she concluded before standing once more to her full height and walking back to the screen.

Another snap of her fingers and the screen split down the middle. One side showed Chris and the other showed Darren. She moved to walk back the way she had first come when she arrived, stopping to turn and look at them.

"I'm just going to leave that here so you can watch it play out like a real time movie," she said. "Enjoy."

With another sweep of her hand, the same light that had carried her in began to engulf her once more, shrinking her form back to nothing more than a ball of light and moving to take her back out of the room.

"What exactly do you make of this?" Blaine asked after she had gone and when Kurt twisted his head around to look at him, he was watching his double pacing a room and it took Kurt a moment to recognize the man's surroundings.

"I don't know," he said truthfully. "But I'm more interested in what he's doing at my house," he commented.

Blaine swiveled around to look at him. "That's your house?" he asked. Kurt nodded his head.

"Yeah. That's one of the guest rooms. I mean, I told my dad that he had been by to visit me," he explained. "He introduced himself as you." Blaine furrowed his brow in thought for a moment. "But I didn't expect him to go looking for him."

"Huh," Blaine tutted. "What do you think it means?"

Kurt shook his head. "I don't know. It may not mean anything. But oh boy is he going to get a surprise when he tries to visit me again."

"Do you think he knows?" Blaine asked, turning his eyes back on the screen in front of them where Darren continued to pace the guest room of the Hudmel house and Chris was seemingly asleep in Kurt's prison cell.

"Knows what?" the twenty year old asked, needing clairification.

Blaine looked back at him. "That you're not in prison anymore."

Kurt was quiet for a moment. "I haven't the foggiest idea," he finally said. He couldn't imagine how Darren would know that he was no longer in prison. He didn't have a clue what had gone down that got him to this weird place.

Kurt was a light sleeper. The smallest things seemed to wake him up. Movement, tiny sounds, chills in the air. How than, had the woman gotten him here without the twenty year old ever even stirring a finger? It didn't make much sense but if Darren had woken up as Blaine without any recollection of how he got there and Chris was apparently still sound asleep, neither of them would have been disturbed in the movement or whatever either.

"I don't know how she does it," he finally said.

"How she does what?" Blaine asked.

Kurt looked over at him for a moment. "Move us without any of us ever having any knowledge of it actually happening," he told him.

"Your guess is as good as mine," Blaine replied. The two of them lapsed into silence then, neither knowing how this would unfold after this. But one thing was for certain. Both Chris and Darren were about to get the biggest shocks of their lives.


	15. Chapter Thirteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we go guys! A major pivotal point in this chapter and it came out longer than I expected but that's good right? We finally have Chris and Darren together again here and things may be looking up slightly. But they still have no clue what happened to Kurt and in Darren's case, Blaine.
> 
> Thanks to ChrisCalledMeSweetie for being so supportive of this fic. I'm so glad you like it so much! And thanks to all my readers, reviewers and people giving kudos. You all rock!
> 
> Comments and kudos make me smile. Enjoy!

Burt Hummel was not thinking about much when he answered the phone the next morning. He had expected maybe calls from people in Washington or at the least, news on Kurt's whereabouts. Well the call was about Kurt. But the information he received was certainly not what the man had been expecting.

"Blaine?" Burt questioned carefully as he entered the guest room where Darren has spent the remainder of the night pacing the room and trying to come up with any sort of plan. The man looked up to see that Burt's face was almost as pale as Kurt's.

"Burt?" he asked, concern already filling his voice. "What happened? Is Kurt all right? He's not dead is he?"

The man quickly shook his head. "No, no it's not that." He swallowed and moved to the bed, sitting down and patting the space next to him. "Sit down Blaine."

Not having any clue what could possibly be so bad that Burt wanted him to sit down for it if Kurt wasn't dead, Darren quietly crossed to the bed and did as the man asked him to. He'd always been such a fan of Kurt's father. He was the greatest parent a kid could ask for. And Carole was just as amazing too.

"What is it Burt?" he asked as calmly as he could. "What's wrong?"

Burt let out a sigh and swiped the cap from his head, staring straight ahead of him instead of at Darren. "When the guards made the morning rounds to collect prisoners for breakfast, they supposedly found Kurt back in his cell," he started. Darren furrowed his brow. If that was the case, why was Burt so distraught? "Only when they interrogated him about the disappearance, he went ballistic shouting about how Kurt didn't exist and he was a fictional character and that his name was Chris, not Kurt."

Darren felt his blood run cold. Oh God please no. Someone tell him what he was beginning to think happened didn't actually happen and that Kurt was suddenly just delusional. But that couldn't be the case. How else would he know Chris' name and that he wasn't supposed to be real unless it was true and who they thought was Kurt wasn't actually Kurt?

He had to take several moments to collect himself. This couldn't be happening. The last thing he wanted was for the force that brought him here to do the same thing to Chris. But if it was true and what he was suddenly dreading had actually happened than where was the real Kurt Hummel?

"They're thinking of appealing his case to be claimed temporary insanity," Burt went on suddenly, hands tightening on the cap he was still holding. "If they succeed, Kurt's sixteen year imprisonment sentence will be changed to nine months in a rehabilitation facility and two years probation." His voice had gone very quiet by the end of his words.

Though Darren thought that sounded better than sixteen years in prison, he certainly didn't want Chris or Kurt for that matter ending up in a mental institution. Being sentenced to one of those didn't always go over well. He could end up in one that was literally meant for the criminally insane.

"Is there still time to prevent them from making that decision?" he asked carefully, already forming a plan in his head.

Burt sighed and put the cap back on his head. "Nothing's been finalized. They've decided to give him a few days to recuperate from the mysterious disappearance. Apparently one of the guards thinks he may have been abducted by aliens," he said with a shake of his head.

"That's absurd," Darren replied immediately. "How in the world would aliens get into a prison cell?" That got Burt to laugh. Well, there was a goal accomplished there. "I'm not saying abduction is impossible. That's actually one of the theories surrounding missing time episodes," he went on.

"I've heard of that," Burt said with a nod.

The younger man stood up and went to retrieve his jacket. "I'm going to go visit him this morning. Maybe by the time you and Carole go by this afternoon, things will be back to normal," he told him. He had one hand on the doorknob when he paused and looked back at the man. "They are still allowing him to have visitors right?" he asked with uncertainty.

"As far as I know," Burt replied with a shrug. "I'm sure if that had changed, they would have told me." Darren nodded his head before pulling open the door and leaving the room.

His mind was elsewhere as he headed down the stairs and he had just reached the front door when he realized that Burt had driven him to the Hudmel house which meant the rental car was still back at the hotel. He cursed under his breath.

"Are you all right Blaine?" It was Carole. She had just come into the entryway from the kitchen, drying her hands on a dish towel. Darren bit his lip.

"I was going to visit Kurt but I just realized Burt drove me here and my rental car is still at the hotel," he told her.

Carole nodded her head to the dish on the table by the door where a set of keys lay in waiting. "Go ahead and take my car than," she said.

He hesitated. "Are you sure?"

"Of course honey," she replied. "Whatever you need. You can have Burt take you to pick up the rental later," she told him. He nodded his head and scooped up the keys.

"Thank you," he told her. "I'll be careful, I promise."

She laughed. "I trust you dear," she said. Darren felt a swell in his chest. This woman had only met him mere hours ago and she already trusted him. He was beginning to wonder if Blaine was a better person than he himself was. But how would that be possible? Technically, he made Blaine who he was. So it was all him anyway.

With a smile, he gave the keys a toss in the air and proceeded out to the car.

A myriad of thoughts filled his head as he drove. The loudest one of the lot though was how the hell did Chris end up here? Why would the force want to bring him here? That was going to nag at him until he had some answers. He wasn't sure what was going on or even why it was happening. He still wasn't even sure why _he_ was here exactly.

And just thinking about everything that had happened to him so far since he woke in Blaine's body introduced a new frightful realization to him.

Darren was already aware that he was losing his sense of self slowly for some reason. Blaine was a character he had been cast to play. But Kurt, Kurt was a character that had been written specifically for Chris to play. So while Blaine was putting a face to a character, Kurt was putting a character to a face. Because the role had been written for Chris, no one else could ever play Kurt. Chris Colfer _was_ Kurt Hummel.

And that scared him because what if it meant Chris would lose sense of self much faster than he was and in a number of days there would be no more Chris Colfer, just Kurt Hummel? On the other hand, maybe Chris wouldn't lose sense of self at all. As much as he worried about what the younger man was doing here, Darren knew that this adventure was meant to be his ordeal, his lesson to learn. So there was no reason why it should effect Chris in the same way it was effecting him.

Whatever the issue was, there was one thing he knew he had to do. He had to explain to Chris what was going on. Get him to play along because as much as he wanted Kurt out of prison, having him released to mental custody was not the road he wanted to take. He knew that he didn't have nine months here. While visitation might be looser there, there was also no chance of him being released early. And Darren outright refused to be missing from his reality for a full nine months.

As expected, when he got to the prison, he was given the same security measures as before. However, instead of being lead to the visitor screens, Darren found himself in a small holding room with a table and two chairs.

"We want to keep his visitation isolated from other inmates," a guard said. So in a way, it was both an advantage and disadvantage. "We'll be watching through that window," he went on, pointing to a window that was set in one wall behind which a guard already stood. "So don't try anything funny." He left the room and Darren sat down to wait.

It was only a few minutes before the door opened and Darren turned to see the familiar pale man trudging in with his head down. He could tell by the state of the disheveled hair that he had been restless all morning. His hands were cuffed in front of him and the curly haired man felt his heart ache. If this was truly Chris, he hated seeing him like this. He couldn't bear it.

The guard pointed to the chair opposite Darren and the prisoner slumped into it. Grunting in acknowledgement, the guard left the room, leaving Chris' wrists cuffed together and the two of them alone. This was the best scenario the twenty-seven year old could hope for.

He waited a few minutes, trying to see if Chris would say something first but when he didn't Darren decided to take a chance. "Chris?" he asked hesitantly and the pale man lifted his head to stare at him and just in that moment, the older man knew that he was in fact staring at Chris Colfer, not Kurt Hummel. He wasn't sure how, but he knew.

"Dare?" Chris whispered uncertainly. Darren nodded his head slowly. "Oh Dare," Chris cried than and the curly haired man could tell how badly he wanted to fling himself forward and cling to him, never letting him go. But he couldn't. The handcuffs on his wrists prevented him from doing that. So instead, Darren cautiously reached forward and grasped his hands, squeezing lightly and causing a small gasp to make its way out of Chris' mouth.

"It's all right Chris," he said. "I'm here." He didn't want to overwhelm him by just spewing out the story so he stayed quiet, allowing a comfortable silence to wash over them for a few moments before Chris spoke again.

"Please, what's going on? Why am I in an Ohio prison? And why do they think I'm Kurt?" he asked. Darren clutched his hands a little tighter.

He drew a breath before speaking. This was going to be a lot for Chris to take in but the man deserved to know. "I don't why you were brought here. This is apparently my lesson to learn, not yours," he started.

"Lesson? Someone is trying to teach you a lesson?" Chris asked in confusion. The curly haired man nodded. "Why?"

"I have no idea," he admitted. "It has something to do with Blaine though. Because instead of waking from my nap at home, I woke up Sunday morning in a New York apartment with two roommates I didn't recognize both calling me Blaine," he told him and Chris' eyes went wide as saucers. "You are supposed to be Kurt. They think you are because Kurt was in that cell yesterday."

Chris furrowed his brow. "But what in the world was Kurt doing in prison?" he asked.

The older man drew another breath, still clutching Chris' hands in his. "Because in this reality, Kurt and Blaine never met. Kurt never went to spy on the Warblers and as a result, it lead to a life threatening altercation with Karofsky in his senior year. David Karofsky, he's dead Chris. Kurt killed him to save his own life." Chris stared at him with an expression like a deer caught in headlights. "He was charged with involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to sixteen years in prison. He has fourteen left."

Chris was quiet for a long time. It was obvious to Darren that whatever he had been expecting, that certainly wasn't it. The curly haired man glanced down at the other's hands, frowning at the redness on his wrists growing from the chaffing of the cuffs. God he wanted to get those off him.

"I've been working toward getting him released. If it can be proved that he was acting to save his own life, the charges will be dropped," he went on and Chris bit his lip.

"Wouldn't that mean someone would have to have evidence?" he asked and Darren nodded.

"Someone does have evidence," he said.

"Who?"

"Jacob Ben Israel."

Chris rolled his eyes. "Of course," he replied.

"There's something else though Chris," Darren told him quietly.

"What?" the pale man asked.

"Rachel. She has something to do with it." Chris opened his mouth to retort but Darren went on. "In this reality Chris, Rachel got extremely mad at Kurt for auditioning for Tony against Finn. She ran for class president because Maria was given to Mercedes so she didn't get in the show. Kurt was given Tony because he confronted Coach Beiste on her views about him not being masculine enough for the part and called her out for being just as discriminating as the students when she claimed to care about him. In this reality, it was Beiste who tried to encourage him to run for class president instead but he told her that he was the school punching bag and he had less chance of getting votes than he did of landing Tony." He paused to allow Chris to absorb all this before he told him the nail on the head punch to the gut that pinned Rachel as a villain in this situation.

Licking his lips, Darren went on when Chris said nothing. "When Kurt landed Tony, Rachel got even angrier. Blind rage lead her to stereotype gays in her debate speech, saying more feminine guys should not be allowed to do masculine things. She threw Kurt under the bus while at the same time putting Finn on a beacon of light pedestal. It got her the win in the election but at a price. Her dads have never forgiven her, Finn didn't either. And of course, her and Kurt's relationship was never repaired." The look on Chris' face was appalling. He looked absolutely disgusted with all of this. "I ran into her on Sunday. That was how I found out Kurt was in prison. She told me to forget about him because as long as he was behind bars, he didn't matter."

That was the shortest way he could tell Chris everything he had learned without divulging all the details. He didn't need to go into the details surrounding the attack. He could cover that later.

"I can't believe she did that," Chris finally said, his voice tinged with bewilderment. "Lea would be absolutely appalled. But at the same time, she'd be happy she wasn't the one making Rachel do that." That got a laugh out of Darren before he turned serious again.

"Chris, you need to be Kurt. They're considering changing his charge to temporary insanity and resentencing him to nine months in a rehabilitation center and two years probation," he explained next. He felt Chris' hands tremble slightly in his own and subconsciously tried to reassure him by rubbing the backs of his hands with his thumbs. "Prison I can work toward getting you out early but not a mental institution and Chris, we don't have nine months do we?"

Chris shook his head. "No. In our reality, you disappeared without a trace. There's no sign of what happened to you and the weirdest thing Dare, while I and all our friends still remember you and know who you are, your parents don't. I tried to call your dad and he said he didn't know anyone named Darren or Chris."

The curly haired man was quiet for a moment, thinking back to when he had called Blaine's mom. That had to have something to do with it.

"That's because in this reality, they're Blaine's parents," he said in quiet realization.

"Oh Dare," Chris replied in a slightly pitied voice. They knew the indications of Blaine's parents and he hated that his best friend would have to be subjected to listen to the voices of his actual parents filled with the loathing that Blaine's parents had of him.

"But if I'm missing there," Darren changed the subject. "That means you will be too."

Chris nodded. "And that is why we don't have nine months," he confirmed.

"We'll figure this out Chris, I promise," Darren told him. "I don't want to think of you behind bars even more than I want to think of Kurt behind bars." Chris gasped slightly but Darren plowed on. "You're just this beautiful and perfect man and I am honored I got to meet you and know you and work with you and I am so so sorry for being so frustrating lately. I realized something Chris."

"What's that?" Chris whispered breathlessly.

Darren tugged gently on Chris' hands, pulling them against his chest which caused Chris to lean over the table to account for the reach.

"That I need you in my life. That I can't live without you Chris. That I can't bear it for you to be mad at me." He paused and drew a breath as at that very moment, it hit him like a tidal wave crashing into shore. Hazel eyes locked with glasz ones as he finally let the words whisper out into the open. "That I'm in love with you Chris Colfer."

Chris sniffed and it was only than that the curly haired man realized the other had started crying. "Oh Dare," he choked out. "Please, please tell me this isn't a dream again because I don't think I could bear it," he pleaded, shaking his head hysterically and finally breaking out in loud sobs.

"Hey hey hey," Darren said quickly, finally releasing Chris' hands to bring his own up and brush away the tears falling from his gorgeous eyes. "You're not dreaming Chris. We may be in some alternate reality we had no idea existed but I promise you, _you are not dreaming_." Chris continued to cry silently, though by the beautiful smile that had bloomed on his face, they were happy tears now.

"He figured it out you know," Chris said quietly several moments later.

"Who figured what out?" Darren asked.

"Will. He figured out that I was in love with you," Chris replied. "That's why we broke up. He didn't care that I was so sure you would never reciprocate. The fact that I had feelings for someone else was tearing him apart." Darren felt a sense of guilt well in his gut. He was the reason Chris and Will had broken up. Him. He had indirectly caused it to happen.

"I'm so sorry Chris," he whispered.

"Don't be. I have you now. That's all that matters," Chris told him.

Darren made the move then, the action of leaning forward, intent on doing something he had wanted to do as himself for a while now. Millimeters separated his lips from Chris' as he inched closer across the table and then…

The door to the room opened and a guard entered, forcing Chris and Darren to jump apart. "Okay, you've had well longer to visit than you probably should. Time to go back to hell Hummel," the man said. Darren let out a sigh, a sound only Chris caught as frustrated.

'I love you,' Chris mouthed to him as the guard began to lead him out of the room.

'I love you too,' Darren mouthed back. A small smile flickered across Chris' face and then he was gone. "I love you too Chris," the curly haired man repeated aloud to himself in a quiet voice. "I'm going to get you out of this mess, I promise."

With a new determination, Darren got up and allowed a second guard to lead him back out. It was true what they said. Love really did give you the feeling that you could do anything.


	16. Real World Interlude Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so time for another glimpse into the real world and find out what is going on there for the moment. This chapter is a bit on the shorter side. But that's okay. The real world interludes are meant for updates on that side not real progress. Anyway, the return of the woman in white is in this chapter and we get some insight as to just who she is.
> 
> Thanks to ChrisCalledMeSweetie for the amazing support and funny links. And thanks to all my readers. You guys are so awesome!
> 
> Comments and kudos make me smile. Enjoy!

Naya paced the conference room where the cast and crew were gathered. It was late evening and normally people would have been headed home by now but they had a crisis on their hands.

Two of their very important cast members were missing. First it was Darren who disappeared without a trace after Ryan sent him home early that day. And now, it was Chris who everyone knew would never miss a day of work even if he was sick. And he did not show up that day. Worst of all, when someone tried to call him, they got the automated voice telling them the number had been disconnected.

Naya thought back to when Chris had called her in the middle of the night. He said something about having gotten a phone call from Santana. Not only had that fully woken her in a matter of seconds but it threw her for a loop. Chris was a self-proclaimed nerd but surely even he didn't believe that was possible. Another point in that phone call came up in her memory. Chris had told her that when he tried to call Darren, he got that same number is disconnected message.

"Naya, please sit down," Ryan said. He had been watching her pace for the last five minutes. The Latina woman turned and slammed her hands palm flat on the table in front of her.

"No, I will not sit down," she quipped. "This may be more serious than you guys might think!"

To his credit, Ryan remained calm. "And why do you think that?" he asked.

She looked him dead in the eye, her peripheral catching everyone looking directly at her. "Because when Chris called me the other night, the first thing out of his mouth was that he thought he had just gotten a call from Santana."

A hush silence fell over the room. Ryan was staring at her with an unreadable expression. A small note of muttering told her some of them might be whispering about her, maybe her sanity.

Naya pulled herself to her full height and stood there with her arms folded across her chest. She was not going to back down from the growing muttering in the room, coming from those members of the crew who didn't know her as well as the others did.

"She's obviously under massive stress Ryan," one of them finally said. Naya threw a glare his way. If there was one thing she had learned from playing Santana for five years, it was how to be an intimidating bitch. "You should send her home for a while," he continued, though with less vigor and confidence than he had originally shown.

Ryan didn't hesitate. He shook his head at the guy and turned back to Naya. "So they chose Santana, did they?" he asked and that was a question the Latina was not expecting. Her wide-eyed expression revealed how caught off guard she was.

"What are you talking about?" she asked. Ryan stood up and began to pace the room, tapping his chin in thought.

"I know where Darren and Chris are," he said casually a few moments later. Everyone stared at him. Naya was speechless. She didn't know what to say to that. "At least, I have a hunch," he continued.

"Okay than," Amber Riley piped up. "Where are they?"

Ryan cleared his throat. "Chris and Darren's numbers are disconnected because they no longer exist in this reality," he went on, causing the room to break into a smattering of collective gasps and muttering. The producer held up a finger and rushed out of the room, leaving the group to dwell on what he had just said.

Naya stood there staring after her boss for a long moment, tuning out the questions of "is he mental" and "there's no such thing as alternate realities" and "has Chris invaded his brain with scientific madness". She had to stop and think long and hard about this. If it was true that Chris had indeed received a very staticky call from Santana than that indicated the line had crossed vast planes. But planes of what? What kind of planes separated one universe from another?

There had to be an exact scientific method to everything and the Latina was just trying to figure this all out when Ryan came back into the room, a thick book in his hands. He dropped it on the table and and only then did Naya recognize it as a volume she had seen once in Chris' trailer. One of the odd things that were really an irrelevant read. She recalled wanting to ask Chris why in the world he had it. But she never did.

"Chris brought this to me just yesterday," he said, indicating the book. He looked up at Naya. "He told me that he had spent the rest of the night after he had gotten off the phone with you researching in this book. He told me what had happened that night," he went on.

So Ryan wasn't the one that had initially thought of this, Chris was. Did that mean when Chris disappeared that he had some inkling of what might have happened to Darren? Was he onto something? Getting too close to the truth that whatever it was had to make sure he didn't spill the beans to everyone so they took him too?

Suddenly, Naya reached out and grabbed Ryan's wrist before he could flip open the book. He looked at her in surprise and she shook her head.

"Don't," she said. He opened his mouth to question her but she stopped him with answering before he asked. "There's no way of knowing whether Chris' quickly growing knowledge of what might actually have been going on was the reason he was taken from us. We can't risk that happening to anyone else."

A slow clap was the first response she received and the entire room as a whole turned to stare at the doorway. There, stood a woman in a long white gown with flowing blonde hair. She was clapping her delicately pale hands.

"Who the hell are you?" Naya snapped.

The woman walked forward until she was so close to the Latina she was invading her personal space. "No one you should worry your pretty little head about Naya Rivera," she replied. Naya froze stock still. How did this mysterious woman even know her name?

The woman swept on, moving passed her to the front of the room. She seemed to command attention without even asking for it. Turning gracefully to face them all, she allowed her piercing blue eyes to sweep the room, settling her gaze on several people for uncomfortably long periods of time. Naya was one of them.

Ryan was staring at the woman not in fear, but in wonder. "You, you're the guardian of universes, aren't you?" he asked and Naya had to wonder what the hell he was talking about.

"I see you have been studying that book Ryan Murphy," she replied pleasantly before turning her gaze back to lock once more on Naya. "To answer your observation, no. Chris Colfer's knowledge had nothing to do with why I took him. I needed him. Darren Criss was solving things much too easily," she said.

"What have you done with them?!" Naya spit out. To her surprise, the woman just chuckled at her.

"Such concern for your friends," she said, giving her head a knowing shake.

"Of course she has concern for them!" Lea Michele said in an appalled tone of voice, as if the very thought of Naya not being concerned for two of the cast's most lovable members was unheard of.

The woman's gaze flickered over to Lea and the small brunette felt like she might crumble under the strength in those piercing blue eyes. "Relax, they will be returned to you. Once Darren Criss learns his lesson," she said.

"Is this your idea of a joke?" Naya got out, pulling the woman's gaze back to her. "In case you haven't noticed, we're in the middle of filming Glee! Darren and Chris are highly important to that and we need them here. So you bring them back immediately!" She slammed a hand down on the table to prove her point. There were mutters of agreement that went up around the room.

For the first time, the woman in white showed a sign of displeasure. Her eyes narrowed and darkened and she moved so that she was once again invading Naya's personal space.

"A lesson is to be learned," she spoke in a dark tone of voice. "Powers have spoken and neither one can be returned until the goal is met. Only then will you get your precious boys back." Her tone remained dark as though she were accusing Naya of something of which no one else had any clue. "You will do well not to take attitude with me or you'll be next!" It was a clear threat. She turned back to the room as a whole afterward, the pleasant expression back on her face. "Have a wonderful evening." And with one last fleeting yet challenging look back at Naya, she swept from the room.

The Latina could do nothing but drop into a chair and just stare at wall with eyes wide as saucers.

Ryan opened his mouth to say something when the phone on the table rang. The phone they often used for conference calls. The producer stared at it for a moment before he moved forward, picked up the receiver, hit the speaker, and put the receiver back down. Instantly, the room filled with static. Ryan cleared his throat.

"Hello?" he said carefully. Despite the static, the voice on the other end of the line came through clear as a bell.

"Ryan Murphy and the cast and crew of Glee I assume?" For a moment the whole room froze stock still and all eyes moved in unison to stare at Naya because there was no doubt, the voice on the other end of the line was hers.

The producer cleared his throat. "Yes? How can I help you?"

"I've been asked to inform you of the current situation," she replied. The people in the room exchanged looks with each other. What in the world was this Naya doppelgänger talking about?

"Okay," Ryan said slowly.

"Your Chris Colfer has taken Kurt's place in prison," came the reply. The room went dead silent. Prison? What in the world was Kurt doing in prison? "See the thing you have to understand here Murphy is that in this reality, there is no Klaine as you call it," she went on. "Kurt never met Blaine and because of that, he ended up in prison. You don't need details."

It was quiet for a very long time before Ryan found his voice. "And what does this have to do with a lesson being learned?" he asked.

"Think shiny baby head," she said. "What was the last thing you said to Darren?" she asked.

Ryan decided to ignore the insult and looked thoughtful for a moment. "I asked him whether he didn't think Kurt needed Blaine just as much as Blaine needed Kurt," he said quietly.

"Exactly. So, he's been sent to a world where Kurt and Blaine never met. Put two and two together genius," she said.

Ryan didn't have to think about that for more than a few seconds. "She wants Darren to understand just how important Blaine's presence in Kurt's life is," he said slowly.

"Ding ding ding!" came the sarcastic reply. "Shiny baby head wins! Give him a prize!" Yeah. That was Santana all right. "I gotta go. See ya!" There was a click as both the static and her voice were replaced by a dial tone.

Nobody knew exactly what to say after that. It was a lot to think about and to take in. Not to mention how crazy it all sounded. This had to be some sort of bizarre dream they were all having at the same time or something. Or one of them was having or whatnot. They weren't even sure.

One thing they did know. Until the return of Chris and Darren, Glee was going to need to take an unscheduled hiatus. Well, this was turning into a right mess.


	17. Chapter Fourteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING!! The following chapter contains sexual content. If this is not something you wish to read, you are quite welcome to skip this chapter. There are no new developments in this chapter so skipping it will not throw you off in any way.
> 
> Anyway, thanks to ChrisCalledMeSweetie, I know this is something you've been waiting for. And thanks to my readers. You guys are the bomb!
> 
> Comments and kudos make me smile. Enjoy!

That night, Darren found he still couldn't sleep. The fact that he now had to rescue Chris from prison and not Kurt was weighing heavily on his mind. As was the battle back and forth about whether or not to tell Burt and Carole the truth. There was also the fact that he had no idea what had happened to the real Kurt or whether he was with the real Blaine.

Those things weren't the only thoughts plaguing him though. He kept picturing Chris' beautiful face, so heavily marred by the fact that he had suddenly found himself in prison. Those eyes just shone crystal in the dullness of the room in which they had sat. The pink of his chaffed wrists where the handcuffs cut tightly into the skin. The tears leaking down his soft pale cheeks. Such a sad image should not have turned him on so much but it did.

After Burt had taken him to retrieve his rental car, he and Carole had to leave for a few nights in Washington. Apparently, in this reality, Burt had still won the congressional election. That was good at least. But he might have had more to fight about. "Kurt" was already aware his parents would be gone a few days so Darren made it a point to visit him so he didn't go without any visitors while they were out of town.

So with the Hummels gone, the twenty-seven year old was left alone in the Hudmel house. Left to his own devices and well, he was a very healthy young man with a very healthy sexual bravado.

He laid on his back in the dark, staring up at the ceiling, hands gripping tightly into the pillow beneath his head in an attempt to keep them to himself. But the image of his beautiful Chris in his head was strong and the memory of him mouthing those three little words everyone dreamed of hearing from somebody, was powerful.

Darren gripped the pillow tighter. He attempted to force the image away but it was joined by more. Chris in tight skin jeans. Chris in those gold pants he wore for Not The Boy Next Door. Chris in the leather jumpsuit. Chris shirtless when Kurt got a tattoo. It was all too much. All the sexiest things about Chris in action were flooding his brain.

He could feel his growing arousal straining against his pajama pants. His eyes shifted down and even in the dark, he could see them being tented by his erection. It was the beginning of May and the weather was rather warm so he had decided to sleep on top the covers and leave the window open. Damn. It meant he couldn't blame his wood on the chill in the air because there was none.

It would be so easy. Reach down with one of his hands and slide it beneath the waistband of his pajamas to wrap around himself. A few good strokes to those images in his head and he'd be falling over the edge, soiling his pajamas. And it wasn't like there was anyone in the house to hear it. But there was that part of him that felt guilty at the very idea of doing such a thing in someone's home where he was a guest, even if they weren't there.

His mind was at war now. Battling the images of Chris in his head and the thought that to do it would be inappropriate. His hands were now gripping his pillow so tightly, his knuckles were as stark pale as Chris' skin was naturally.

But thoughts of Chris were slowly beginning to push away the knowledge of inappropriateness that was filling his mind. The images were no longer just images. They progressed to scenes of Chris laughing, those perfectly kissable pink lips curled up in his trademark closed mouth smile.

And Darren found himself wondering what it would feel like to have those beautiful lips latched around his cock, sucking him off like there was no tomorrow. Could Chris deep throat without gagging? The sudden image of Chris latching on to him and taking him deep with his throat perfectly relaxed and glancing up at him with lust filled eyes sent a shudder up his body.

"Chris…" he whispered. One of his hands tangled itself free from the pillow and he slid it slowly down his chest. The slide of the silk fabric of his pajama top - or Blaine's pajama top - against his skin sent tingles bursting all over his body.

The hand traveled slowly lower. It was just the right speed to have him pining for more but at the same time feeling he was moving too goddamn slowly.

Fingers grazed the waistband of his pajama bottoms and played with it for a moment, stretching the elastic and watching it snap back. The slight smack to his already heated skin caused him to let out a deep groan low in his throat and suddenly, he really couldn't wait anymore.

His other hand relinquished its grip on the pillow and quickly dropped to join the first. In one swift movement, he hooked his thumbs into both his pajama bottoms and boxers and shucked them off, springing his erection free. The cool night air drifting in through the window felt good on his heated flesh.

Darren's eyes were closed. In his mind he had wandered. His mind's eye focusing on that image of Chris with his mouth wrapped around him, his cheeks hollowing out as he sucked hard on the head. A pink tongue protruded from his mouth and licked a long slow stripe up a vein on the underside of his shaft. The man moaned and his hand moved to wrap itself around his cock.

Fingers slid across the tip on the upstroke, collecting the precome that was already gathered there. He used it as lubrication, easing the dry friction of the stroke. His hand worked briskly, twisting on each upstroke.

Darren's mind allowed him to picture his hand as Chris' mouth, bobbing up and down over his erection. The very thought had him moaning loudly, his breath beginning to come in rapid pants as he worked his hand over himself even faster.

He bucked his hips, fucking into his own hand, still picturing it as Chris' mouth.

"Do it Dare," the Chris in his mind said. "Fuck my face. You know you want to." A loud moan pierced the still night air and Darren bucked his hips hardly. The fantasy in his head was so much hotter than anything he'd ever jerked off to before.

Not wanting it to be over too soon, Darren forced his mind to make Chris pull off, leaving his throbbing cock flush, pink, and aching for release, bobbing against his stomach. Another moan and the man forced his hand to slow down its ministrations, trying to stave off his climax and drag this out as long as possible.

His fantasy Chris slowly stood, walking back a few steps before giving Darren a coy smile. His nimble fingers crawled slowly up his chest to the buttons on his shirt and it was only then that the curly haired man realized Chris was still fully dressed and that turned him on even more.

His mind produced music playing in the background, though he couldn't put his finger on what it was exactly. His eyes were still fixed on Chris who was slowly progressing from one button to the next.

"Please Chris…" he whined, not registering that he was now speaking the words of his fantasy self aloud to the empty room. He wasn't alone in his room anymore. He was lying back on a bed, completely naked with Chris stripping his own lithe frame before him.

There was a soft tap of the sound of fabric hitting the floor as Darren in real time mimicked his fantasy Chris, removing his shirt and dropping it carelessly to the side.

And there Chris stood so beautiful, with his pale chest exposed to Darren. His fingers brushed themselves down his chest, sweeping over his nipples and drawing a delicate line from his belly button down to the belt buckle on his pants.

"Take them off Chris please!" he begged, hand working more frantically over himself again. He was too far gone to notice now though.

"Do you want me Dare?" Chris asked, hand trailing once more down his pale chest and God did he know how to be sexy.

The twenty-seven year old couldn't find his voice so instead he just nodded his head. Chris' hands traveled back down his body and came to rest on his belt buckle. Darren watched with eager eyes as he unfastened it and slowly slid the belt free of his pants, moving to fold the article into a small loop around his hand.

Without warning, a thwack broke the air as fantasy Chris smacked the belt hard across one of Darren's thighs, causing the older man to cry out both in fantasy and in real time.

"God Chris!" he moaned. And he could almost really feel the pain as though the slap of a belt to his thigh had actually happened. The small bit of retained real world consciousness told him he had to get Chris to really do that sometime.

The pale man chuckled, moving to repeat the action on the opposite thigh and Darren cried out again. His hand squeezed around his cock, begging it not to release right then, not before his mind allowed him a glimpse of Chris naked. But as the man in his fantasy reached to undo the button on his jeans, Darren's cock couldn't take it anymore.

With a shout of Chris' name, he came hard, spilling over his fist as he worked himself through his orgasm. The vision in his head popped like a bubble and Darren cursed himself for not holding off long enough to get Chris naked.

He lay there panting in the dark, slowly coming back to reality and down from his high. He was suddenly hyper aware of what had just happened. And the fact that he was stark naked in the guest room of someone's house. He cursed at himself before reaching over and grabbing tissues off the nightstand to clean himself up.

At least he had the decency to shuck off his pants before he soiled them. The comforter on the bed however, wasn't so lucky.

Sighing, he got up to hopefully change the sheets. Carole had shown him where they kept the extra linen. He worked in silence, mind reeling from the experience he had just put himself through.

Never in his life had he had an orgasm quite like that before. It said something to him that he was probably completely at Chris' mercy and the whole idea made him want to make the fantasy a reality.

All the same though, he still was a bit horrified with himself for having done that in someone else's home. Burt and Carole hardly knew him and they had already moved passed waves of hospitality that was decent at this level of knowing someone. And how did he repay them? By soiling the comforter on the guest bed with his dirty fantasies about a guy who could be their son's twin while they were away.

In all his years, Darren had never been so disrespectful to someone in his life. _It can't happen again,_ he thought to himself. But even as he thought it, he was well aware that it would be easier said than done.

Chris was in prison. The chance of getting intimate with him was zero. Unless the curly haired man wanted to get himself incarcerated but if he did that, they'd both be screwed. Thoughts of Chris were also keeping him grounded, like they were rooting Darren back to himself. Since seeing him, he hadn't had one single blank out incident. And sure it had only been a number of hours but that meant something to him.

In any case, the point of the matter was until Chris was free, Darren would probably be getting much more acquainted with his hand than he had been recently.

As he lay back down on the freshly changed sheets and fully dressed in his pajamas again, he found himself wondering if Chris was having the same problems. Though he figured if he was, due to his situation, he might have an easier time practicing self-control.

Prison inmates were hams and slime balls. They were so horny they didn't even care if they had to fuck a guy to get some. Plenty of them probably jacked off to copies of Playboy in their cells. Chris was much too clean cut to join them in any of that. Though Darren did hope Kurt at least had soap on a rope for him to use. He'd be damned if some horny meathead got his germ infested rod up Chris' ass in the shower. That ass belonged to him now!

At least he assumed it did. He and Chris hadn't had a chance to discuss where they stood with each other now that they had both confessed to being in love with the other. That was going to be his top priority the next time he went to visit him.

In the meantime, he was going to have to concentrate very hard on making sure that his mind stayed clean of thoughts of Chris' ass and what he wanted to be doing to it.

This wasn't helping. He needed to stave off the impending second erection in probably the last half hour. So he changed his thought process to wondering something that had always made him jealous before but until now, he couldn't put his finger on why.

When Chris and Will were together, had they had sex?

Yeah, that was the best way to kill an impending raging boner.


	18. Chapter Fifteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we go guys! Progress is made and more complications arise in the form of an out of the blue offer. CrissColfer takes a step forward as well and Darren maybe has to blow off a little steam somehow. This journey is just becoming a twisted mess but like they say, it has to get worse before it can get better.
> 
> Thanks always to ChrisCalledMeSweetie! You are the best! And thanks to all my readers! Love you guys! Did I mention I beta my own work? If you want to help, feel free to drop me a comment to say so!
> 
> Comments and kudos make me smile. Enjoy!

The next day, Darren decided he needed to do less random thinking and more progress on getting Kurt or rather Chris now, out of prison. He set himself up at the kitchen table with Blaine's laptop. He had to admit it was weird to see a pear rather than an apple on the cover. He had to blame the show because apparently Apple products were copyrighted and in this world, it was Pear not Apple.

Which made it also weird to know Blaine's cell phone was a Pear iPhone 5S. Of course he had the latest model but that wasn't the point. The point was that it was Pear not Apple. He was still trying to wrap his head around it and make sure he didn't accidentally slip up or something.

But that was the least of his worries right now. He had to think about what he needed to get done. He hadn't actually had the chance to watch TMZ yet so he decided his best bet was to go to their website and see if he could find a staff list.

He tried to ignore all the gossip stuff on the page until he spotted something that caught his eye. It was a picture of Rachel. Her face was tear streaked and she looked distraught. She was pulling her pink suitcase along behind her. Darren dropped his eyes to the headline below the photo.

RACHEL BERRY KICKED OUT OF OWN HOME

Well this was a development. Why had she been kicked out? Who was she living with?

Darren was about to click on the article to read it when the name of the journalist caught his eye. Jacob Ben Israel. Of course he would be the one to write an article about Rachel Berry. But it also proved that he had indeed gotten the position. The curly haired man could hardly believe his luck.

Well, now that he knew Jacob was indeed working at TMZ, he just needed to find out how to contact him. So he went ahead and clicked on the Rachel article.

A part of him no longer cared what it was about so he merely skimmed through the article to find what he was looking for. Apparently, she'd had an argument with her longtime friend and roommate whose apartment it was and the friend - who was not named - kicked her out. Sucks to be Rachel than. Not that he cared after what he was assuming she'd done.

He found what he was looking for. Jacob's contact information was directly at the bottom of the article. Perfect. He clicked on the email link, pulling up a box and set to work on the email.

_Dear Jacob,_

_My name is Blaine Anderson. You don't know me personally and I'd prefer us not to know each other beyond the necessary acquaintance. Nothing personal. I just don't really care for this kind of gossip._

_Anyway, I would like to discuss with you the Kurt Hummel case. I have it on good authority that you have a tape depicting the entire attack. That evidence is crucial and could get Kurt free from prison. Given what I've heard from a few people, I understand that you would intend to keep this tape for blackmail purposes. Well, allow me to give you something to think about. Who would you be blackmailing? One of the two people in question is dead and the other is already behind bars so attempting to use that tape for blackmail is pointless._

_I know you care about what people think of you. They probably think you can't do anything right. I have skimmed through your McKinley blogs. Well, this is your chance to prove them wrong. Come forward with the evidence and help free Kurt from a sixteen year prison sentence he shouldn't be serving. I know you know he's not violent by any means._

_Kurt described himself as the school punching bag. Why would he kill anyone on purpose? I can pay you off if necessary._

_Sincerely,_

_Blaine D. Anderson_

Darren looked over the letter. He could only hope that Jacob would agree but he had not forgotten to leave out the fact that there was really no point in withholding the tape for blackmail. And he had technically answered the what's in it for me question he was sure to get when he offered to pay him at the end.

If there was one thing he knew about Blaine, it was that he was well endowed, and not just in the physical sense. Blaine came from money. He would be able to easily pay Jacob his asking price if there was one. But Darren also knew this was not something either himself or Blaine would do with a smile. He knew the character well enough to know that like himself, he thought paying off people was wrong.

In any case, what other choice did he have? Sighing, he clicked the send button on the email and decided just to hope for the best. The force that had brought him here had already made things hard enough. He didn't need it to get worse.

A not so happy thought crossed his mind then. What if Jacob had gotten rid of the evidence? Would he have done that? Surely if he had realized he would get nothing out of it, he would have disposed of it.

Jacob was one of those people who never did anything if there wasn't anything in it for him. That was just the kind of person he was and Darren hated people like that.

But this was serious. If that tape was gone, they were shit out of luck and it looked like Darren would have to let Kurt or Chris for that matter rot in prison for the rest of the sentence. He just could not have that. It wasn't an option.

Just then, the house phone rang and Darren startled out of his thoughts. He bit his lip, wondering whether he should answer it or not. But he realized it could be Burt or Carole calling to check up on him, which he knew was something they would do. So he stood from the table and walked over to the phone, picking up the receiver on the third ring.

"Hello, Hudmel residence?" he said into the phone. Feeling weird for answering it that way.

"That was so nerdy Dare." Darren froze in surprise. That was Chris. How the hell was Chris calling him? And how did he have the house number? Chris answered the first question without ever being asked. "I only have fifteen minutes so we can't waste time. They apparently allow one daily fifteen minute phone call," he told him.

"Okay," Darren said slowly. "That doesn't explain how you actually have the house number," he piped in.

Burt and Carole changed it recently. They thought it was important to give 'Kurt' the new number," Chris replied and the curly haired man could see the air quotes he wrapped around Kurt's name in his mind's eye.

Mind's eye. The very thought took him back to the events of the previous night and he blushed to the tips of his ears.

"Dare?" Chris questioned, breaking him from his brief trance.

"Yeah sorry," he replied, shaking his head off and willing himself to snap out of it. Unless they were about to have fifteen minute phone sex. That thought quickly had his blood traveling south but he put a halt in it. Fifteen minutes was not enough time for decent phone sex. "So to what do I owe this honor?" he asked instead.

There was a light giggle on the other end of the line. "You are such a dork Dare," Chris said and Darren could practically hear him shaking his head.

"But you love me anyway," he replied, grin crinkling his eyes.

"I do," Chris said fondly. "And I miss you, but that's not what this is about."

"So what's it about than?" he asked, voice going on serious now because whatever this was had to be important if Chris was using his one daily phone call to talk to him of all people.

There was a slight hesitance on the other end of the line before Chris replied.

"Puck was here this morning." That threw Darren for a loop. Whatever he had been expecting, it certainly hadn't been that. Why would Puck of all people suddenly visit Kurt in prison out of the blue? What about Mercedes? Or even Sam? Sam had to know Kurt pretty well after living with the Hudmels for a while. And hadn't he been comfortable with Kurt right from the off?

"Oh?" he asked. The surprise was clearly evident in his voice. "What did he want?"

Again, Chris hesitated. "He said the Air Force was willing to negotiate my or 'Kurt's' release from prison on one condition."

The wheels in Darren's head were beginning to turn over and over, faster and faster. "What condition?" he asked, though he had a feeling he knew what Chris was going to say before he even said it.

"That I sign on for a tour of duty," Chris said, confirming the thoughts already forming in Darren's head.

Was Puck mental? First of all, the twenty-seven year old doubted that the military could negotiate anyone's release from prison, at least not successfully. Secondly, Kurt was the last person who would ever join the military. For one thing, he couldn't stand uniforms. He valued his individuality. For another, he hated violence too. The idea that he might have to kill innocent people would never appeal to him. At least in Kurt's mind they were innocent. Can't agree on something? Okay, let's fight to the death. No, Kurt would never agree to that.

"What did you say?" he asked, his own voice sounding so incredibly foreign to him at the moment. It was like he was hearing it come out of someone else's body. Did that make sense?

"I said I needed to think about it," Chris told him. Okay. So he didn't say yes and he didn't say no. That gave Darren an idea. He could maybe use this to his advantage.

He nodded his head slightly. "Okay good. Hold off on giving him a reply," he said.

"You're onto something Darren," Chris noted and the curly haired man couldn't help but to smile at that. The younger man knew him so well.

"Turns out, Jacob did get hired at TMZ," he replied, starting to fill Chris in. "His name is on an article about Rachel getting kicked out of her house." Chris' snort of laughter was like music to Darren's ears.

"Of course it would be," and the twenty-seven year old could hear the roll of his eyes.

"Anyway, I sent him off an email. I have no way of knowing whether he'll comply easily or even if he didn't destroy the tape," he explained. "But just in case, keep Puck's offer as a backup. I know Kurt would never ever join the military but in this situation, beggars can't be choosers. We need to get Kurt out of prison one way or another because you and I both know he doesn't belong there."

Chris was nodding his head on the other end of the line. "Right. I'll wait until you have hopefully sorted things out with Jacob and then give Puck an answer," he said.

Darren could only hope that things would go well with Jacob. He didn't want to be responsible for Kurt ending up in the military. He wasn't sure the pale man would ever forgive him for that.

"I love you," he said next, smiling goofily even though he knew Chris couldn't see it.

"I love you too Dare," came the immediate reply. Darren felt his heart swell. "I have to go now but I'll see you tomorrow okay?"

"Okay," he whispered, pressing a kiss to the phone. "Chris?" he asked hesitantly then.

"Yeah?" he asked, voice quiet and gentle.

"What are we?" The question came out small, which surprised him because he had never been so nervous to ask such a seemingly simple question before.

A quiet gasp left Chris' mouth then. "We're whatever you want us to be Dare," he whispered.

"Would you be my boyfriend than?" Darren asked.

"Is that what you want?" Chris sounded like he was trying hard to keep the hope out of his voice and Darren smiled into the phone, chuckling lightly.

"More than anything," he replied.

"Than yes Dare, I'll be your boyfriend," Chris told him, making his heart swell so much. "I really do have to be going now before I get in trouble. I love you."

"Love you too. Please be careful Chris."

"I promise mon cherie," Chris replied and a flood of warmth spread all throughout the older man's body. "Good-bye Dare."

"Good-bye Chris." There was a click as the phone was hung up and Darren was met with the dial tone. He hung up the receiver and sat back down in front of his computer. He checked his email but there wasn't a reply from Jacob yet.

There was the brief thought about whether Jacob would even reply but surely he wasn't allowed to ignore things sent to his work email. He decided to give the man some credit and offer more time. If there wasn't anything in twenty-four hours, he was going to have to go to New York. Can't ignore someone if they show up in person, at least, not as easily and certainly not with no prior warning.

But at least they had some sort of backup plan. Sure, it was not the kind of backup plan Darren had in mind but it was another option. Maybe, if they could find more options, they wouldn't have to rely on the stuff with Jacob working out nor take Puck up on the military offer. And there was no guarantee the Air Force would even succeed in gaining Kurt his freedom.

He sighed and ran his hand through his messy curls. He hadn't been planning on going anywhere that day so he hadn't actually done anything with his hair. This was all just becoming a more complicated mess. Every time he thought he had made progress, something else came out of the blue and jumbled everything up again. It was like for every step he took forward, he took two more back.

"What do you expect from me?!" he cried out to no one in particular, turning his eyes on the ceiling and throwing his hands up in the air. His patience was beginning to wan. This was his fifth day there and for the first time, he felt like he was getting absolutely nowhere.

Yes Darren Criss was beginning to reach the end of his rope but there was just no goddamn way he was ever going to give up.


	19. Chapter Sixteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Still on a roll! One chapter a day! Did I mention I'm actually writing the new chapter everyday? I'm so proud of myself now. Anyway, new developments in this chapter and the return of Santana! And Darren finds out he has someone to help him. This is just a few hours after the last chapter takes place.
> 
> Thanks to ChrisCalledMeSweetie for being so awesome! And all my readers as well because you guys are awesome too!
> 
> Comments and kudos make me smile. Enjoy!

_Dear Blaine,_

_First off, I don't fault you for thinking so lowly of me, as I was exactly what you were saying in high school. You'd be surprised how much a person can change in a year. I'm a different man now, I promise._

_Secondly, I would love to help you out but I can't. Not because I destroyed the tape because I didn't and not for blackmail reasons. At least, not my own. You're right, there's no point in withholding that tape for blackmail when Karofsky is dead and Kurt is behind bars, which as surprising as it may seem, I don't believe he should be._

_The reason I can't help is because I may not be blackmailing Kurt but someone else is blackmailing me. They're trying to keep David on a pedestal, make him look like the innocent Good Samaritan and they'd be damned if someone like me ruined a good football player's reputation. As it is, I'm lucky enough they never found out that I told Paul Karofsky I had the tape. But he needed to know there was evidence of Kurt's innocence. Despite the fact that his son was dead, he was feeling guilty about what happened to Kurt. You see, he feels that had he done something to change his son, none of this would have happened. But you know what they say, everything happens for a reason._

_I'm terribly sorry about this but I cannot help you and I cannot tell you who is blackmailing me. He doesn't want his reputation tarnished either._

_Sincerely,_

Jacob Ben Israel

Well hell.

Of all the things that could have drawn a negative response from the Jewfro, that was not one of them. Not that Darren had thought of anyway. It had never even crossed his mind that someone would want to blackmail Jacob. But now that he thought about it, it wasn't all that surprising.

Jacob said that he couldn't tell him who was blackmailing him but he didn't have to. Darren was quite sure he knew exactly who it was. Who else would want to keep David Karofsky in standing of praise? It had to be Azimio Adams. Rick the Stick was nowhere near that close to Karofsky and Azimio was his best friend.

The twenty-seven year old stared at the email he had received just a few hours after he had sent the initial message. It wasn't wholly negative either. There was that undertone of positivity in the message. And despite what he knew about Jacob, he could feel that he really was truly sorry because he did want to help. And he was right. A person could change a lot in a year.

He contemplated writing back and seeing if Jacob would come to Ohio but if Azimio was still in Lima, as Darren thought he might be, he doubted that would be successful. He wanted to tell Jacob he needed to put his foot down and be brave. Azimio needed to know that now as an adult, he really couldn't push people around like that anymore.

The curly haired man got up and started pacing the kitchen, tapping his chin in thought. He wasn't prepared for this kind of development. And worse, he was going to have to tell Chris the next day.

But coming forward with that evidence was not entirely out of the question. He just had to somehow either convince Jacob to stand tall against his blackmailer with his head held high, or convince the blackmailer to back down. Approaching Azimio as Blaine though might not be the smartest thing. The guy would never listen to a homosexual.

It looked like if Darren wanted to attempt to get Azimio to call off his blackmail, he was going to have to approach him as himself. The best thing he could do would be to search through Blaine's wardrobe for pieces he knew he personally would have bought, refrain from shaving, and let his hair go wild. And if he could find a hoodie in Kurt's closet, that would be a bonus.

The only thing that he was worried about was the fact that Blaine had no sneakers. Just all these loafers and dress shoes. He was likely going to have to take a pair of socks from Kurt as well.

Manner of dress and trying to make himself as much of himself as he could was the easy part. Tracking down Azimio was the hard part. Though his first thought was to look at the Ohio State website. Maybe he was playing for the Buckeyes or something.

A snort came out of him as he sat back down in front of the computer. It was funny to be thinking of the Buckeyes when he had gone to the school that was their number one rival. He couldn't let anyone know that though.

Darren had just typed the address for Ohio State into the address bar when there came a pounding knock on the door.

He didn't have any clue who it could be because he certainly wasn't expecting anyone and the Hummels weren't due back for another couple of days. Not to mention it was their house so they wouldn't have to knock.

"Open up hobbit! I know you're in there!" The twenty-seven year old just stared at the door in surprise. He knew that voice and he knew it well. Santana. But what on earth was she doing back in Ohio? And why was she pounding at the door of the Hudmel house? Wait, how did she know where to find him?

More pounding on the door snapped him out of his reverie and he got up to go open it for her. He didn't have the slightest idea what she was doing there.

"Santana," he said as pleasantly as he could as he threw open the door. She shoved passed him, inviting herself into the house with her arms folded across her chest. Darren could only shut the door behind her and stare in confusion.

"About time hobbit," she stated, turning to face him. "Did you get the tape yet?" she asked.

That caught him off-guard. The tape? How did she know about the tape? He'd only ever encountered her once and that was before he even knew about the tape. Not to mention, he'd barely said two words to her then.

"What are you talking about?" he asked.

She rolled her eyes and marched into the living room, arms still folded across her chest. "All that gel must be seeping into your brain. You know what I'm talking about Darren," she said.

The man froze in his step as he had started to follow her and his eyes got round as saucers. Did she just?

"Did you just call me Darren?" he asked in surprise. He was one hundred percent sure this was actually Santana because Naya didn't insult people like she did. Naya was a completely different person than Santana Lopez. It was one of the reasons she played her so well. So than, why did she know his name?

She rolled her eyes again. "That's your name isn't it?" She didn't give him the chance to answer. "Look, long story short, I've been chosen to help you. I know who you are, where you're from, and what you're doing here."

"What _am_ I doing here?" he asked her. She rolled her eyes yet again.

"Like I'm going to tell you? Sorry sexy hobbit, you have to figure that out on your own. It's not in my job description to give you all the answers on a silver platter," she said. "So out with it. Did you get the tape?"

He sighed and ran a hand over the back of his head. "No," he said. "Apparently, Jacob's being blackmailed by someone who wants to keep David's reputation intact."

Santana snorted. "You're kidding me. The blackmailing Jewfro is being blackmailed?" she asked.

Darren went into the kitchen to retrieve Blaine's laptop. He pulled up the email. "I wish I were kidding," he said, passing the laptop to her so that she could read it.

He watched as her eyes started to narrow as she read over Jacob's reply. "There's only one person who might have actually blackmailed him," she said.

Darren nodded. "Yeah, I figured. I have a good idea on who it is."

She was quiet for a long time, studying the message and thinking the situation over in her own mind, as though there was something that just didn't click for her. And when she spoke again, it wasn't what he was expecting.

"He's lying," she said simply.

"Wait, what? How do you even know that?" he asked in surprise.

Santana shut the laptop and looked back over at him. "He's not lying about wanting to help, or that he can't. He's lying about the reason why." She started to pace the living room, brow furrowed in thought. "Azimio was among the football players recruited to play the Jets that night." And Darren wasn't surprised that she'd come to the same conclusion he had without ever discussing it. "He would have had to be informed about the attack beforehand and we already know one hundred percent that no one else was there other than Karofsky, Hummel, and Jewfro," she told him.

"But Azimio was David's best friend. Surely he would have informed him of the future beat down," he replied.

The Latina shook her head. "No. Karofsky wanted to do this so no one would have the chance to help Kurt. Even if Azimio was his best friend, he also didn't want to give anyone else the glory because Kurt was his punching bag," she explained, starting to pace the living room again. "He picked after the show because everyone would be busy either leaving the theater or backstage, getting out of costume and wrapping up to head to the after party."

Darren bit his lip. "But if Azimio knew Karofsky was there…" he started but trailed off when she shook her head again.

"He didn't. Karofsky had already told him that he wouldn't be caught dead at that girly performance. So Azimio had never known that he would show up. Rachel convinced him to go and he never told anyone because he didn't want to risk someone getting in his way," she said.

One particular thing caught Darren's attention. "Hang on, Rachel?" he asked. This time, Santana nodded, an angry look marring her face.

"She confessed to being the reason Karofsky was there a few days ago. I kicked her out for it." So Santana was the friend Jacob's article was referring to. He should have pieced that together but he had no way of knowing whether they were roommates in this reality or not. He didn't want to assume anything.

It was Darren's turn to pace. He now had confirmation to his suspicions of Rachel's involvement and then, that very piece of confirmation suddenly blew the whole situation wide open and his eyes went wide with realization.

"What's that look for?" Santana asked.

"I don't think Jacob's lying about being blackmailed. But I do think he's lying about the who and why," he said, taking a seat on the couch.

"Now I'm intrigued," she said, staring back at him for a moment. "By all means, enlighten me hobbit."

Darren grinned. "I think he's being blackmailed by Rachel." She opened her mouth to say something but he went on. "First off, payback's a bitch. He blackmailed her first. Or bribed her rather. Her underwear in exchange for keeping Quinn's secret." He stood up again and crossed the room to the window. "Rachel was the reason Karofsky showed up that night. Jacob would not have known about the attack had someone not tipped him off that there would be one."

He watched Santana's eyes go wide as realization struck her. "Which means Berry knows about the tape." Darren nodded his head and she shook hers in reply. "But that doesn't explain why she would blackmail him into not coming forward."

"Jacob's a talker," Darren started, already having a reply for her. "Rachel would know that if he was questioned about the tape and how he knew there was going to be an attack to film, he wouldn't hesitate to proudly reveal she had tipped him off. That ultimately would tell everyone else that Rachel knew more than she was letting on."

"Which would have confirmed their suspicions about why she suddenly refused to answer questions either to authorities or reporters," Santana noted aloud. Everyone knew that was a move very not Rachel Berry.

"She doesn't want her involvement getting out. Because it would…"

"…tarnish her reputation," she finished for him, rolling her eyes.

"Exactly," Darren concluded. "And we all know that Jacob would so anything for Rachel Berry."

Santana was quiet for several moments, mulling this over in her head. This conversation had made quite some headway. So now it was certain that Rachel was preventing Jacob from helping them and he lied about who was blackmailing him because of Rachel not wanting anyone to know about her involvement. But if she was guilty enough to confess to Santana, why was she still blackmailing Jacob?

"Why is she still blackmailing him if she confessed to me?" she voiced aloud.

Darren shook his head. "Because as much of a bitch as you are, you care about Kurt and you wouldn't do anything to bring his misery back into the spotlight. Rachel knows that so she thought it would be safe to confess to you. That way, she was getting it off her chest and loosening the guilt while at the same time, keeping her reputation intact," he said.

The Latina narrowed her eyes. "That bitch! She used me like a pawn!" She started marching back toward the door.

"Where are you going?" the curly haired man asked.

"Back to New York. Don't worry about Jacob, Rachel, or the tape," she said. "Leave that all to me. In the meantime, you stay here, keep your lover boy from going insane and start trying to locate the real Kurt and Blaine." With one last nod of her head, Santana was out the door, leaving Darren once more alone in the house.

A lot of ground had been covered. And with Santana's help, he did feel like a weight was lifted off his chest. Like he could breathe easier. But the feeling was short lived. Sure, he knew she was capable of succeeding on the New York task, that wasn't what he was worried about. What he was worried about was the task she had given him. How was he supposed to know where to even start?

Darren did have to wonder if she didn't actually already know where they were. Hadn't she said she'd been chosen to help him so she knew everything? But than, if Santana had all the answers, or gave him all the answers, he wouldn't actually learn anything.

He could see where she was coming from. And after a thought, he knew that she was genuine with telling him to track down the real Kurt and Blaine. Santana was known for being brutally honest. Had she known where they were, she would have told him she already knew but that didn't mean she was going to tell him where they were.

And there was the fact of whether or not locating Kurt and Blaine was really important in this whole puzzle. Unless, in order to go home when he solved whatever this was, he had to bring them back himself.

And just like that, the new feeling of being lighter was gone, replaced once more with confusion and weighing him down again. Boy, nothing about this situation was meant to be very light.

Darren was beginning to hate every moment of it.


	20. Chapter Seventeen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay here go! Would have been sooner my but my family is forcing my to socialize and that makes me distracted and then my aunt was complaining loudly about Owen Wilson's nose when I was trying to beta read and I'm one of those people who needs quiet to concentrate on what I'm reading so I had to keep rereading stuff. Anyway, a Klaine centric chapter for you!
> 
> Thanks to ChrisCalledMeSweetie for being on my biggest Cheerios for this story! And thanks to all my other readers and commenters as well. It means the world to me.
> 
> Comments and kudos make me smile. Enjoy!

Kurt was pacing the room, arms wrapped tightly around himself. He had long since started to avoid what was happening on the screen they'd been left with. He didn't need to watch Chris going through the motions of prison life.

There were two things that were bothering him at the moment. One was Darren's private time the night before — and yes, they did see it. How could they not? It wasn't like they could sleep easily here. The accommodations were less satisfactory than his prison cell. The other was that Puck had offered to negotiate his release on condition that Kurt join the Air Force. Had all his former friends lost their minds?

"Kurt, please sit down," Blaine pleaded with him. He was sitting on the floor against a wall. Ironically, the floor was more comfortable than their chairs. And sitting on the floor allowed them to look at each other without turning around awkwardly.

Kurt stopped pacing and turned to look at Blaine, giving his head an indignant shake and hugging himself even tighter.

"No. The ground is too hard, the chairs are too hard, and my brain just does not want to shut up," he told him. Blaine gave him a sympathetic look before climbing to his feet and approaching the other.

"I know it's difficult," he said softly, reaching out with his hands and sliding them hesitantly into Kurt's. The pale man blushed scarlet and glanced down at the floor. Blaine's hands were warm and rough. The fingers were calloused which suggested he played guitar and that only made the feel of his hands in Kurt's all the more welcome. The twenty year old clung tighter to his hands. "But we have each other in this so at least we're not alone."

He had a point. They were in this together. They had someone there to keep them going so that they wouldn't break down completely and if Kurt was being honest with himself, he was on the verge of breaking down.

Although he had shut out the screen, it didn't stop him from picking up on vital information. It was all Rachel's fault. She was the reason he had spent the last two years in prison. Despite what she had done at the presidential debate, he had never thought that she could stoop so low as to do something like that. And he didn't think he could ever bring himself to forgive her. The news that she was possibly the one blackmailing Jacob to keep the tape away from authorities only made this thought stronger.

He sighed heavily and tightened his own grip on Blaine's hands, trying to tell him with actions that he didn't want him to let go. If he was being honest, the real Blaine Anderson was somehow even more stunningly gorgeous than Darren was. Maybe because Blaine still had a boyish air about him? In the time they'd spent together, he'd learned a lot about the other boy. He had just turned nineteen in February and was a freshman at NYADA. That piece of information had Kurt's heart aching with longing.

Kurt had told him that NYADA had been his dream school before he'd gotten arrested. There was no chance of him ever going there now. What prestigious college would accept a criminal? Because even after he got out of prison, he would still be a criminal.

He realized now that technically, he was out of prison but the authorities would never know that because Chris had taken his place.

But he had gotten out of one prison only to end up in another. It wasn't too bad. The woman in white mysteriously delivered food and water, their necessities and the building they were in actually had a fully functioning bathroom. Though Kurt was willing to bet she had created the shower herself. This didn't seem to be a residence of any sort. Particularly because they had no actual warm beds.

Sleeping became nearly impossible because as tired as he was, Kurt could not seem to find a position in which he was comfortable enough to get at least a few hours of sleep so he was constantly awake. At least the woman in white was keeping their prison at room temperature so they were never actually cold.

"I'm sorry," he said finally. "It's just…part of me is happy to be free of prison but the other part is wondering if this is really that much better," he told him. Reluctantly, he pulled his hands free from Blaine's and hoped he wasn't imagining the disappointed look on the other's face. "I mean sure," he started again, throwing his hands up. "I get freedom to do as I wish when I wish and the food is actually delicious. But I still can't come and go as I please and all we have to sleep on is the hard cement floor," he went on.

Blaine looked thoughtful for a moment. "Do you really wanna try and go somewhere when you have no idea where you are to begin with?" he asked.

Once again, Blaine had a good point. Kurt sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He started to pace the room, looking distraught.

Blaine felt his heart go out to this beautiful boy. How could anyone think it was fair to put him through all of this? The younger boy felt a little guilty that he had never had to go through the hell that Kurt was still going through. Sure, he'd been beaten up after a dance but he hadn't had a bully pursue him to the point where he was threatening his very life and had to kill his bully to save himself.

Kurt was a much braver soul than Blaine was. Kurt had killed his bully and landed in prison because of it. Blaine had merely gotten beaten up and what had he done? He ran.

"I admire you Kurt," he said quietly, causing the pale man to look over at him in surprise. "I admire you. You have all the courage and strength I wish I had," he went on pressing a hand to his chest.

Kurt laughed humorously. "You think I'm brave and courageous? I killed someone Blaine. That's not courageousness. It's cowardice."

"But why Kurt?" Blaine asked aloud even though he knew the answer. "Why did you kill him?"

Kurt gave him a strange look. Blaine knew why Kurt had killed Karofsky. He knew the whole story from Kurt's point of view because he had told him. So why was he asking him this?

"Say it Kurt!" he said firmly. "Why did you kill him?"

"To save my own life," Kurt said quietly, not having any clue what Blaine was getting at. "I wanted to live."

Blaine nodded his head. "Exactly Kurt, exactly," he said. "You didn't run from your problems. And you didn't try to take the easy way out by committing suicide. You fought against them. And that is what makes you courageous. That is what sets you apart from so many others like us," he explained.

Kurt was beginning to understand where Blaine was coming from here. He was right. He could have run away like Blaine claimed he did. Or he could have taken the easy way out, the same road most commonly taken by LGBT youth. The point Blaine was making was that unlike so many people in the same situation Kurt had valued his life. He wanted to live.

The truth of the matter was, Kurt had never once considered taking his own life. It had just never been an option for him. And as dismal as it might sound, he would probably say his mother's death was responsible for that.

Ever since he was eight years old and had first learned that his mother wasn't coming back, Kurt had felt he needed to be strong for his father. He made it a point not to cry again after the burial. Burt was a wreck without Elizabeth. He was trying to be strong for Kurt but didn't realize Kurt was trying to do the same for him. Kurt's mental age grew massively that year.

Whatever happened to him, through the taunting and teasing at school, through the bullying reaching a physical level, through all the dumpster tosses and locker checks, always in the forefront of his mind was his dad and the thought he had to get through this and endure it for his sake.

So yes, suicide had never been an option. The one time the thought had ever entered his brain, it was disposed of quickly by the countering thought of how strongly he knew he could not do that to his dad. He couldn't leave him alone with no one to be there for him.

He was going to tell him about the bullying. He really was. But then came the heart attack and Kurt could just not impose that kind of stress on Burt. So he kept it quiet until the day Burt caught Karofsky making fun of him and Kurt admitted that he had threatened to kill him, after Finn pushed him into telling Burt what was going on.

If Kurt thought that after Karofsky was nearly expelled for his bullying, he would lay off, he was sadly mistaken. On the contrary, it escalated, more than triple than what it was before. This time, Kurt worked his ass off to keep it from everyone. He became very good at hiding when anything was wrong. And that was why no one had ever noticed that things had reached the point where Karofsky was actually willing to attempt murder.

Did Kurt feel guilty for not coming forward? Sure he did. But at the same time, it kept the stress off his dad at the time and he doubted anything would have been done about it anyway. Sue Sylvester had wanted to protect him, but she couldn't so everything. And more than two-thirds of the time, she didn't even catch it.

He didn't blame her for not helping as much as she had intended. She was just one person and it wasn't her fault she wasn't always there. Not to mention, Karofsky seemed to work out a schedule where he always managed to mess with Kurt when no one was likely to catch him.

Rachel must have known though. She must have known that Karofsky was still bullying Kurt. Otherwise she never would have tipped him off about the performance. She knew something.

A new anger flooded Kurt's being then. Rachel had known what was going on when they were still friends. She had known and had never said anything to him. Why? Rachel had always stressed that she worried about him. But she had never given him an opening to talk about what was going on. Never said anything like, "you know you can tell me if something's bothering you right?" None of them had.

But than, none of the others had caught on. He'd come clean to Santana after the fact. When he was incarcerated before trial. Told her everything. She felt guilty that she'd had no idea. None of them did. None of them except Rachel. And Rachel had never approached him about it. That made him wonder, was she using this knowledge to backstab him in the future? Had she always intended to ruin his chances of having a future on Broadway?

Rachel had once told him she hadn't been so nice to him at first because he was her only real competition. She'd been laughing about it, like a joke between friends. But now he wondered if she had actually meant it. If Rachel had honestly felt threatened by him. The question was why? She was a female and he was a male. It wasn't like he had a chance of getting any of the roles she wanted. So why did she feel so threatened?

"You're right," he finally said, tuning out his thoughts. Now was not the time to dwell over Rachel or how big a hole she had actually dug herself into where he was concerned. He had a new understanding of keeping your friends close but your enemies closer. Rachel was doing just that.

"Are you going to be okay?" Blaine asked, looking at him with concern warming his honey-hazel eyes, showing just a splash of amber and Kurt felt his heart beat out of his chest. Oh yeah, he was already beginning to drift toward dangerous territory where Blaine was concerned and the scariest thing, he didn't even care.

"Hold my hands again and I will be," he whispered boldly. Blaine blushed, the pink appearing on the apples of his cheeks so subtly, it looked natural. It made him all the more beautiful at the same time.

"Okay," Blaine said. He moved forward and once more, slid his hands into Kurt's. And as Kurt stared back at him, eyes locking with Blaine's he knew that yeah, as long as he had this, he would be okay.


	21. Chapter Eighteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay guys! Another chapter that is from someone else's POV. But I thought it was important to see exactly what Santana was up to on her end of the bargain. There is a phone call to Darren at the end so it's not entirely Darrenless. Tomorrow we shall likely have more CrissColfer. Yay! And if you haven't already, I recommend you read the one-shot I put up last night entitled A Dangerous Game and let me know what you think, yeah?
> 
> Thanks to ChrisCalledMeSweetie for still believing I could keep up with this and get the one-shot done too! I hope you're enjoying your horseback adventure! ;) And to all my other readers, thank you as well from the bottom of my heart.
> 
> Comments and kudos make me smile. Enjoy!

Santana was determined to get to the bottom of this. The fact that Rachel Berry was knowingly keeping the only thing that could give Kurt his freedom back from going public because her goddamn reputation was more important, was pissing her off. But she wasn't going to start with Rachel. Oh no, she was going to start with the one who would be so easy to crack.

And that was why alarm went up through the TMZ offices when the Latina marched in like she owned the place. No one messed with Santana Lopez when she was on a mission.

"You," she spit, pointing to someone at random. "Where can I find Jacob Ben Israel?" The person looked back at her with fear and wide eyes. They pointed a shaky hand toward the back of the main room. Santana glanced in that direction and recognized a familiar head of hair poking over the top of a cubicle wall. "Thank you," she said in mock sweetness.

Turning on her heel, she began to march back toward the cubicle when a man who clearly thought she would be intimidated by him stepped in her way, crossing his arms over his chest and glaring down at her.

"You can't just barge in here like you own the place lady," he said.

Santana smirked at his measly attempt at using an authoritative voice like he thought she would listen to him. A devilish grin on her face, she teasingly stroked a finger down his chest and stared him right in the eye.

"I have a friend who is wrongfully incarcerated and one of your employees is withholding evidence because a self-centered greedy hobbit cares more about her damn reputation than the freedom of a supposed friend," she said dangerously, getting up in his face. "And your employee is in love with her. Also, I have razor blades in my hair so I suggest if you don't want to get cut up, you get your sweaty disgusting hunk of man junk out of my way."

The guy's eyes widened like saucers and he sidestepped out of her way. There was no stopping this Latina on a mission. Santana snorted and continued to march her way back to Jacob's cubicle.

"Where's the tape Jewfro?" she said in way of greeting. Jacob jumped and turned shakily around in his seat, glasses slightly askew on his face.

"I d-don't know what y-you're talking about Santana," he tried to say.

She reached a hand forward and grabbed a fistful of his shirt. "Oh yes you do. Don't lie to me Jewfro. I saw the email you sent to Blaine. Now I'm not going to ask you again, where is the tape?"

Jacob looked like he was about ready to pee himself on the spot. His shaky hands reached up to fix his glasses. "Rachel said—" he started but Santana cut him off.

"I don't give a crap what man hands told you!" she yelled at him. "You claim to be a different person. Well prove it! Prove that you're a different person by defying Rachel and handing over that tape. Screw her reputation! This is Kurt's freedom we're talking about here! And unless you're that delusional, I'd think you'd have enough brains in that Jewfro'd head of yours to realize that his freedom is more important than her unblemished reputation!" Jacob opened his mouth to say something but she stopped him. "I don't give a damn if you're in love with her! Neither does she! In case you didn't notice, Rachel thinks you're the most disgusting thing to ever walk the earth. She will never, and I repeat, _never_ go out with you, let alone give you the time of day!"

A hush fell over the office following her rant. She let go of him, forcefully shoving him back into his seat. The eyes of the surrounding employees were all turned toward the scene. Jacob was in the hot seat now. The ball was in his court.

"I don't have the tape," he got out in a small voice.

"What do you mean you don't have it?" Santana spit out.

Jacob rubbed his hands together nervously. His glasses had gone askew again. "Rachel has it. She took it from me to ensure that I wouldn't go back on my word," he said.

Santana stood up stalk straight and kicked at the cubicle wall hard. Berry had the goddamn tape. And if Berry was stupid and smart, she would have disposed of it. It was stupid to dispose of it because later, she could be charged with destroying evidence. The smart was only beneficial to herself because destroying that tape assured that she protected her career.

Santana didn't have a clue where Rachel had gone after she kicked her out. She was going to have to use Jacob to track her down.

"Okay Jewfro, this is what you're going to do. You are going to call man hands and ask her if she still has the tape," she said. Jacob started shaking his head violently.

"Oh no. Rachel said she'd kill me if I ever mentioned it again!" he got out. She snorted.

"Rachel Berry couldn't kill anyone if her life depended on it," she said. The irony of that statement was laughable. The same thing could have been said about Kurt. But than, Kurt had admitted he hadn't intended to kill Karofsky, just injure him and even that was a lot for Kurt because he didn't believe in violence. "Now, you are going to call her or I am going to crush both your nuts. And I know how valuable those are to you."

Jacob spun around in his seat quickly and grappled for the phone. He was shaking terribly but Santana didn't care. As long as he did what she told him to, it was fine by her.

"R-Rachel?" Jacob said into the phone a moment later. Santana studied her nails. "D-do you still have th-the t-t-tape?"

Rachel's shouting was so loud from the other end of the line, the Latina could hear her clear as day from where she stood in Jacob's small cubicle.

Santana rolled her eyes. If you wanted something done, you had to do it yourself. She walked up and snatched the phone from Jacob. She wasn't scared of Rachel's diva attitude.

"Okay, you listen man hands and you listen good," she said emotionlessly. "First, you're going to shut that hole in your face because the whole goddamn office can hear your annoying voice whining and complaining," she went on. She didn't give Rachel a chance to say anything. "Secondly, you're going to tell me if you still have the tape or else I am going to do something that will ruin your precious reputation so bad, that tape will make you look good in comparison," she said.

Rachel seemed to decide it was best not to cooperate with Santana. "I will _not_ let that tape end me! I don't know how you know about it Santana but you can't have it! And no, I didn't destroy it!"

A slow smirk crossed Santana's face. "First of all, good. Because destroying the tape can get you charged with destroying evidence," she told her and Rachel gulped on the other end of the line. "Did you realize that?" she went on sweetly. "Secondly, I don't know why you're so worried about it ruining your precious reputation. In case you didn't notice, the only way anyone is going to know about your involvement, is if Jacob tells them who told him there would be an attack."

The other girl was silent, though Santana was quite sure she had a retaliation on the tip of her tongue. She seemed to realize that the Latina wasn't done speaking though, which she wasn't.

"I'll make you a little deal man hands," Santana said next. "You hand over the tape and help us with freeing Kurt because his freedom is way more important than your precious reputation, and I'll make sure Jewfro keeps his mouth shut about who tipped him off that night."

It was a price Santana would have to pay. She honestly didn't think Rachel deserved this kind of sentiment, not now. Not after everything she had found out. And if Rachel knew any better she wouldn't be difficult about it.

But of course, this was Rachel Berry they were talking about. "I don't want Kurt free. I need him to stay in prison. I need him to stay there long enough to forget everything I did so we can start over."

"I got news for you Berry. This is Kurt we're talking about here. He remembers everything. It won't matter if he gets free now, after another four years, or in fourteen years, he's never going to forget what you did," Santana told her. "And neither will I. After this is all said and done, I want nothing to do with you anymore."

"Kurt…Kurt also does one thing you don't Santana," Rachel shot back. "He forgives people."

Santana rolled her eyes. "Oh please Berry," she said. "You really think Kurt's going to forgive you? Your own dads never forgave you and that was just for the debate speech." Rachel let out a whimper. "And though you tried to think otherwise, you know Finn never forgave you for it either," she went on.

The other end of the line was quiet except for Rachel's soft sobs as the words Santana was speaking finally broke through the outer wall she had worked so hard to build up around this whole incident. When Santana spoke again, her voice was unusually gentle.

"You want to do right by Kurt for once, give up the one thing that will grant him his freedom. He'll at the very least he grateful to you." Santana knew that Rachel knew it would never fix things between her and Kurt but she also wouldn't be able to press forward if she didn't try to do something redeeming.

"Okay," Rachel whispered brokenly. "Okay," she repeated. "You win."

"Bring the tape to the TMZ office tomorrow," Santana said. She turned and hung up the phone and looked back at Jacob who was staring at her in astonishment. Time to keep her end of the bargain. "Listen up Jewfro, if you care for your nuts, you'll keep your mouth shut about Rachel tipping you off," she said and Jacob nodded his head hastily. "Better yet, I'll just tell authorities the tape came from a source who wishes to remain anonymous. That way, you won't be questioned at all. No questioning, no chance of a slip up."

Personally, the Latina could care less about Rachel's reputation. She'd love to see it pounded right into the ground but there was one thing more important to her than seeing Rachel's star status decline. That was Kurt's freedom. And if it meant doing something to ensure that Rachel's reputation remained intact, than so be it because Santana would do anything to free Kurt from prison.

Absolutely anything.

Was she getting soft? No. She just had a soft spot for Kurt. She always had. And it was important to her that he got the freedom he deserved. Of course, no one knew that Kurt wasn't actually in prison right now. But at least he would have his freedom when this was all said and done.

She left the TMZ office with one final warning and headed on out, dialing the number for the Hudmel house. She didn't have Blaine's cell number but she knew the house number. She'd kept in contact with Burt and Carole and they had notified her when they had changed the house number.

It rang a couple of times before Darren picked up the phone.

"Hello?" he asked in a slightly tired voice.

"Darren, it's Santana. I know it's late. Did I wake you?" she asked as she made her way to the subway.

There was a yawn on the other end of the line. "No. I haven't really been able to sleep. Is there a reason you're calling?" he asked.

"I just left the TMZ office," she said.

"They were there working at this hour?" The Latina could hear the confusion in his voice. She shrugged and sighed.

"Anyway, not the point. I got Rachel to relinquish the tape," she said. When Darren replied again, he sounded suddenly wide awake.

" _She_ had the tape?"

Santana nodded even though she knew he couldn't see her. "She confiscated it from Jacob to assure herself that he wouldn't go back on their deal. I don't know what she promised him but that's not the point. She's bringing the tape to the TMZ office tomorrow. Once I get my hands on it, I'll bring to you," she explained.

Darren was thoughtful for a moment. For the first time since this whole thing began, he actually felt like he had accomplished something, like something good had happened. He decided he wasn't going to tell Chris about this until he had the tape firmly in his hands. No use in jinxing something that could be held up again.

"Great. I'll see Chris in the morning but I'm not planning on telling him anything until I officially have that tape," he said. "Puck showed up today and offered to negotiate Kurt's release in exchange for him joining the Air Force."

Santana was quiet for a moment. "What the hell has mohawk been smoking?" she asked.

"Not a clue. But Chris didn't give him an answer yet. I told him not to until we know for sure we have a shot with this tape," he said.

"Good idea," Santana replied. "If it comes to it, Puck's offer can be used as a last resort but I hope it doesn't have to come to that."

"Me too," Darren said. "Thanks for the update and I look forward to hopefully seeing you with the tape tomorrow." He was about to hang up when another thought crossed his mind. "I think you should watch it first. Before you let Rachel leave the office. I don't want to take any chances that she's going to try and con us out of the real tape."

"Good thinking sexy hobbit," she replied. "Even though she actually sounded sincere, I wouldn't put it passed her to try something like that," she added.

"Me either," Darren responded, already used to Santana's abrasiveness. "Hopefully I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yeah. Have a good night."

"You too."

"And Darren?"

"Yeah?"

"Try and get some sleep would you? I highly doubt porcelain 2.0 wants to see the man he loves with bags under his eyes tomorrow," she said with a knowing smirk.

Darren felt his cheeks grow warm. "I'll try," he told her quietly.

"Good," she said. They gave one last good-bye and Santana hung up the phone. So far so good. Hopefully things would stay that way for a while.

She was just getting on the subway when she realized she hadn't asked him if he had found any leads as to where the real Kurt and Blaine might be. Oh well, they could talk about that tomorrow.

With that thought in her head, she rested back against the seat and shut her eyes. Tomorrow was going to be a very long day.


	22. Chapter Nineteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my gosh. I was so worried I wouldn't get to get this to you guys today and then I would have to do two chapters tomorrow to catch up. My service was out for 7 hours today. It was not amusing. And the fact that I might not get to post today nearly took out my motivation to even write the chapter. But it's back and it's here and I am so sorry that I've added another twist at the end. You'll see. Prepare for drama of the *insert ship name here* variety on the horizon. If you can guess at the end of the chapter which ship I'm referring to, mass cookies and kudos for you. Hint, there's more than one kind of ship than relationSHIP. ;)
> 
> Thanks as always goes to ChrisCalledMeSweetie for continuing to believe and me and being dedicated to this fic. And thanks to my other readers and commenters and people giving me kudos. I love you all
> 
> Comments and kudos make me smile. Enjoy!

Darren was actually surprised when he arrived at the prison the next day and the guards lead him once more to that little room. He was expecting them to have returned to the video screen visiting and to not actually have a chance to kiss Chris until he was freed from that place. He wasn't sure if he wanted their first kiss to be in there anyway.

That was weird to think about. Their first kiss. In a sense, the two of them had kissed several times but the fact now was that they had never kissed as Chris and Darren. It was always as Kurt and Blaine. Would it feel different if they weren't acting?

He mulled the thought over in his mind as he sat down at the little table. He'd be lying if he said he hadn't imagined what it might be like to actually kiss Chris and not Kurt.

The door opened and Darren turned to see a guard leading Chris into the room. Despite how miserable the man looked, he had a small smile on his face as he looked back at Darren. This time though, the guard released the handcuffs and nodded to both of them with a pointed look. One that seemed to repeat the sentiment of the last time Darren had visited.

Chris slid into the seat across from him and immediately reached his hands over to take Darren's. "Hi," he said sweetly.

"Hi," Darren got out in a breathless voice. They both just sat there and stared at each other. It was like they were trying to paint every detail of one another into their mind's eye. Chris' eyes were sparkling and his cheeks held a light blush and Darren felt a flutter in his stomach. So this was what it felt like to truly gaze into the eyes of someone you loved.

Neither of them said anything. Both for the moment were just content to stare into each other's eyes. The older man thought about waking up to those beautiful eyes every morning and his heart beat faster at the image.

Was he thinking too far ahead? Surely not. They had already admitted to being in love with each other. Was it too much to think about the idea of sharing a bed with him, even just for sleep?

"I want you to move in with me," Darren suddenly blurted out. Chris' eyes were wide as saucers in an instant. The older man clapped a hand to his mouth.

"I—what?" Chris got out in a startled voice, causing a beat of panic to rise in Darren's body. Why the hell had he just said that? What was he thinking? What was wrong with him?

The twenty-seven year old bit his lip and gripped Chris' hands tighter. There was no turning back now. He had already cracked the door, might as well swing it wide open.

"When we get out of this mess, I want us to move in together," he said quietly but he knew he had never been so sure of anything in his life. "I know it's sudden but Chris, I just look at you and picture what it would be like to wake up to your beautiful face and gorgeous eyes every morning and want that. I want it so badly."

He was aware that he was pouring his heart out here. Chris' expression had taken on a look of wonder as he listened to Darren talk.

"Oh Dare," he whispered, releasing one of the older man's hands and reaching up to gently cup his cheek instead. Darren leaned into the touch. "I'm not living with Joey," Chris deadpanned then, breaking the tender moment and causing them both to break out in laughter.

Darren shook his head. "No I didn't think you would want to," he said. "I thought we could look for a place together or something."

"Or you can just move into my house," Chris said shyly. The curly haired man smiled at him gently, reaching a hand up to cover the one that still rested on his cheek.

"I'd like that," he replied and Chris' smile lit up his whole face. Darren turned his head and pressed a kiss to Chris' palm. Chris smiled wider. "Mm, I love you Chris Colfer."

"I love you too Darren Criss," Chris replied. Their eyes locked again and for a moment, Darren just wanted to say fuck the fact that they were in a prison, he needed that first kiss. His lips ached to touch Chris' perfect pink ones. The lips that always looked so kissable, no matter what they were doing. And he almost let it happen, leaning forward to meet the other man halfway as Chris leant in, clearly intending to finally seal their lips together as one.

But he came to his senses at the last moment and turned his head away, allowing Chris' lips to plant themselves on his cheek. Chris gave him a frightened look.

"What's wrong Dare?" he asked, voice suddenly choked up. "Don't you want to kiss me?"

The older man moved to grip both of Chris' hands again, holding them against his chest, right over his beating heart. "Of course I do. But Chris, I don't want our first kiss to be in a prison," he said. Chris looked relieved and Darren held his hands tighter. "I want it to be special. I want to be able to freely wrap you in my arms, pull you close to me and kiss you for the first time under the stars or something."

"You're such a cheesy sap Darren," Chris giggled and a smile crossed the other man's face as he listened to the melodious sound falling from the beautiful man's lips.

"Maybe. But you know I meant every word of it." Darren didn't even care that this meeting wasn't being used so far to discuss progress on what he was meant to do. He was happy just to be with the man he loved. Be with him and share sweet little moments like this. He placed a kiss to Chris' hands, which he still held against his chest.

"We've kissed before Dare," Chris said and Darren nodded.

"Yes, but only as Kurt and Blaine. Never as Chris and Darren."

Chris wondered if there was really a difference but perhaps there was. When kissing, they were acting, pretending to feel in love because Kurt and Blaine were in love. But now, if they kissed as themselves, they wouldn't be pretending anymore. They would be feeling it for real. Darren was right. This was a big moment for them and it had to be done right.

He sighed lightly, happy just to be there in this moment. But then his bubble of happiness broke as he realized there was something serious he needed to get off his chest, and his face immediately masked it. At almost the same moment, Darren's expression morphed into one of concern.

"Chris?" the older man asked. "What's wrong?"

"I need to apologize to you Darren," he replied and Darren's brow furrowed in confusion.

"Apologize? For what?" he asked.

Chris sighed again, this time in frustration. "For being an asshole the last time you spoke to me before you disappeared." He waved his hand for a moment. Darren opened his mouth to say something but Chris put his hand up and shook his head, indicating he wasn't finished. "I was frustrated and kind of hurt. I thought you were bored of working with me."

"What?" Darren said in surprise. He stood from his seat and rounded the table, kneeling on the floor beside Chris' chair. He took his hands again. "Oh no no no, honey never. I'm so sorry if I made you feel that way." He kissed Chris' hands several times, pulling them back to his chest. "I was just starting to feel like Blaine had no direction except to be with Kurt, like he was becoming one dimensional, like—" Chris cut him off.

"Like if Kurt didn't exist, Blaine wouldn't be able to stand on his own?" he finished for him. Darren nodded.

"Exactly," he said. "But Chris, you have to know it's not your fault. I don't blame you for anything," he rushed on.

"I know," Chris replied. "I get where you're coming from," he continued when Darren gave him a surprised look. "I can't tell you how many times I've been terrified that Kurt would sink if he didn't have Blaine."

The curly haired man gave his head a shake. "How is that even possible? Kurt went through a whole season before he ever met Blaine. He's a strong character. He can stand on his own."

"Mm, but Blaine's been a part of his life on the show for longer than he wasn't. He's Kurt's tether to his very strength for moving forward with his head still held high," Chris told him. "Kurt wouldn't be who he is today if not for meeting Blaine, whether they got together or not."

And suddenly it hit him. That was what he was here to learn. How much Kurt needed Blaine just like Blaine needed Kurt. It all made sense. He was brought to this reality where Kurt and Blaine had never met. Kurt was in prison and Blaine was living life in New York. But he did have to wonder how Blaine knew about NYADA if he'd never met Kurt.

"That's it!" he cried out loud, grinning widely.

"Huh?" Chris said. "What's it?"

Darren stood up and started pacing the room with his arms gesturing wildly around him. "The lesson I'm supposed to learn. It's that Kurt needs Blaine just as much as Blaine needs Kurt! It was the last thing Ryan said to me. And then I turned up here in this reality where Kurt and Blaine never met. It all fits!"

Slow clapping suddenly filled the room and both of them turned. Darren tensed immediately when his eyes fell on a familiar woman in white and he backed against the wall.

"Who are you?" Chris asked, noticing the tension in his boyfriend and gripping his own chair, hardening the expression on his face.

"Never you mind that," she said to him, waving his question off and turning back to Darren who's eyes were wide. He'd never heard her speak before. And where the heck had she come from? Why weren't the guards interfering. "They don't know I'm here," she said, as though she were reading his mind. "Well done on figuring out why I brought you here Darren," she went on next.

"You? You're the reason I'm stuck in this predicament?" he asked. She merely nodded her head. "Well I figured out what you wanted so send us home!"

She chuckled lightly. "Really? Send you home now when Kurt still hasn't been freed and Blaine will go back to New York confused as to why he's suddenly back home like nothing ever happened? Send you home now when Kurt and Blaine aren't forever yet? I don't think so. Besides, I can only bring you here. It's up to you to get yourselves back."

Darren looked at her for a moment. "How do I do that?" he asked.

"I'm afraid I can't tell you that Darren," she said then. "What I can tell you is that you should always finish what you start." And without another word, they both watched her shrink into a ball of light and disappear entirely. Darren stood there breathing heavily.

"What do you think she meant?" he asked Chris after several long moments of silence had passed between them.

Chris finally turned his head from where he had been staring at the spot the woman in white had just been standing to look at him. His brow was furrowed in concentration.

"Finish what you start," he repeated. "I think she was indicating that you have to finish your quest to free Kurt before we can go home," he explained. Darren nodded his head. It made sense.

"In that case, I hope Santana was successful," he said and Chris gave him a confused look.

"Santana?" he questioned. "What does she have to do with any of this?" But even as he said it, he was remembering the odd phone conversation when he was absolutely positive he had spoken to Santana. She did have something to with it if that phone call was any indication.

"She knows. She knows everything Chris. Who I am. Who you are. Where we come from. She's meant to be helping me," he explained. Chris had to admit that Santana was one of the last people he had ever expected would be assigned to aide in something like this but it was probably for that reason she was chosen. "Anyway, she had a breakthrough last night," Darren went on.

"What kind of breakthrough?" Chris asked but the older man shook his head.

"I promised I wouldn't discuss it with you until we could confirm it," he said and at the look Chris gave him, he added, "I didn't want to get our hopes too high only to have them crushed." Chris bit his lip and nodded.

"Good thinking," he said, seeing the other's reasoning.

It was then that the guard returned, letting them know their time was up. Darren reached to hug Chris and the two held each other tightly for a few moments. The guard seemed to pretend he didn't know they were saying good-bye and gave them their moment.

"I love you so much Dare," Chris whispered, burying his nose in the other's neck. He pressed a light kiss to the side of Darren's neck and inhaled, absorbing his scent to store in his memory.

"Darren sighed happily. "I love you too Chris," he whispered back, planting a kiss to his cheek. "So so much," he added as they finally pulled apart. "I'll see you in a couple of days. I promise."

Chris nodded and turned reluctantly to allow the guard to slap the cuffs on his wrists and Darren watched him as he was lead out of the room.

His mind was reeling so much that he barely realized the motions of being lead back out and heading to the car and driving back to the Hudmel house, thinking about the reason he was here, the task he was still meant to accomplish, and how silly in love with Chris he was.

It wasn't until he pulled up in front of the house that he came back to reality because Santana was sitting on the front steps. She stood up and walked towards the car with her arms folded across her chest. Darren thought she might be irritated that he wasn't back yet.

"Hey Santana," he said as he got out of the car and she stopped in front of him. "I'm sorry I took longer than expected." She shook her head and waved him off.

"Forget that. We may have a problem," she said and Darren frowned. Oh no. Had Rachel conned them after all?

"What happened?" he said quickly. "What's going on?" Instead of answering him she merely turned to look toward the porch. For the first time, he noticed the other figure standing in the shadows. It was at that moment, they walked out and his eyes went round as saucers.

"Hello again Blaine," they said sweetly.

It was Rachel Berry.


	23. Chapter Twenty

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And I'm back with another one! Something ChrisCalledMeSweetie said last chapter inspired part of this chapter. Rachel will learn a little more than she should and maybe part of that will eventually be to keep her mouth shut. We get a look at a cross-reality phone call from Santana's end of the line this time as the other two have both been in the interlude chapters. And things are starting to move toward shaping up.
> 
> Thanks to ChrisCalledMeSweetie for being so awesome and inspiring. And thanks to all you guys for your continued devotion to this story.
> 
> Comments and kudos make me smile. Enjoy!

This was not how this was supposed to go. Rachel was not supposed to insist on coming to Ohio with Santana. Apparently, she had gotten it in her head that she could prove the Latina wrong about Kurt never forgiving her because God forbid Rachel Berry ever be wrong about anything.

The meeting at TMZ that morning had not gone exactly as planned. Rachel had shown up. Santana had demanded the tape. The brunette had handed it over, surprising the Latina when she played it and found it was indeed the actual tape. She'd stuck it in her bag and headed for the door immediately. That as when things took an unexpected turn.

Rachel had the nerve to ask her where she was going. Santana told her not that it was any of her business but to Ohio. Rachel had insisted she come along. She just knew if she could talk to Kurt herself, he would forgive her. Fat chance, Santana thought.

And now they were here. In the Hudmel house, Santana and Rachel glaring daggers at each other across the kitchen table and Darren pacing the floor.

"I'm not taking you to see Kurt Rachel. I already visited him today so I won't be let back in. And before you say anything," he quickly went on, seeing the diva open her mouth to protest. "I'm not letting you visit him alone!" he finished.

"Well than Santana can come with me," Rachel stated with certainty.

The Latina had refocused her gaze on her hands and was studying her nails. She scoffed. "I don't think so man hands. I go with you, one of us will end up arrested," she said snidely. Rachel hmmphed in her seat and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Fine, Blaine can take me tomorrow," she said. Darren and Santana had elected not to tell her the truth about who he was. Not like it was any of her business. And she couldn't be trusted anyway.

Darren shook his head. "I don't think so," he said. "Burt and Carole are due home this evening and I guarantee you're the last person they want to see in their house," he told her flatly.

"What's that supposed to mean?!" Rachel asked, sounding accosted.

"Let me spell it out for you Berry," Santana said, finally fixing her gaze on the other girl and narrowing her eyes at her. "It means, you're. Not. Welcome. Here." Rachel just stared at her as she leaned back in her seat and resumed studying her nails.

An uncomfortable silence hung in the room. Darren stopped pacing and leaned against the kitchen doorway with his arms folded over his chest. He had to admit, he was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to hate Rachel. She looked like Lea's spitting image and he was amazed at how he wasn't managing to forget she wasn't Lea.

Lea was a sweetheart. Rachel was a bitch. Darren hated how Blaine was supposed to be friends with her but then he remembered, fictional Rachel, the character Lea played, was nowhere near this level of self-centered bitch that the real Rachel Berry seemed to be. Though he couldn't help wondering if the show would have steered in this direction had Blaine never existed. Of course, if Blaine had never existed there wouldn't be any point of attempting to fix this reality in the first place. And he didn't know where he would be without his role on Glee.

Santana was the first to move, breaking the strange silence as she pulled her phone out of her pocket and a small slip of paper. Her eyes glued to the slip, she tapped in a phone number, hit call, and then put it on speaker phone before setting the phone on the table as clear ringing backed by static filled the silence.

"What are you doing?" Darren asked her, raising an eyebrow quizzically.

Before Santana could respond, the answering of the phone did it for her and when Darren heard the voice on the other end of the line, he froze.

"Hello?" It was Lea. Santana somehow had the ability to make cross-reality phone calls and the curly haired man stared at her with his eyes wide as saucers. Rachel was still as a pole, all the color draining from her face as she heard her own voice float through the phone line.

"Something that should have been done ages ago," Santana told him, glancing from Darren back to the phone. "Hello Lea," she said. Rachel was still looking like the life had been sucked out of her and Darren thought it was a good look for her.

"What is this?" Lea asked. Santana opened her mouth to reply but then looked back at Darren and nodded her head to him. It only took him a moment to realize what she was getting at. Unfolding his arms, he moved closer to the kitchen table and placed his hands down palm flat on the surface.

"Lea, it's so good to hear your voice," he said.

"Darren?" she asked in surprise. "Darren is that you?" He couldn't help the small smile that appeared on his face. She sounded so relieved to hear his voice and he couldn't blame her. He felt the same way.

"Yeah, it's me," he confirmed with a nod of his head, knowing she couldn't see him.

"Who's Darren?" Rachel suddenly piped up in an unusually small voice, before speaking louder and pointing at the phone. "And who the hell are you with my voice?!"

Again, silence filled the room. Rachel was not pleased. Her face was masked into anger and irritation. Of course, things weren't going her highness' way.

"Lea," Darren finally said. "I'd like you to meet the real Rachel Berry, aka, the first reason why Kurt is in prison in this reality." He could almost hear Lea's eyes widen ten fold.

"What?!" Lea spat out. But before Darren could explain, Rachel leapt from her seat and quickly advanced on him, poking her finger sharply into his chest.

"How dare you paint me in a negative light in front of someone who sounds like she stole my voice box!" she shouted.

"Actually that would be an improvement," Santana quipped. Rachel turned and glared at her.

But Darren wasn't at all afraid of the tiny brunette. Instead he smirked. "Really? Well I suggest you show Lea some manners because if it weren't for her, you wouldn't exist," he said shortly. Rachel gawked at him. "Tell her Lea," he said, glancing back toward the phone. Rachel followed his gaze.

Lea didn't hesitate. "He's right. If not for me playing you on the popular hit television show Glee, you likely wouldn't exist," she said. "Furthermore, the Rachel Berry I play would _never_ stab her best gay in the back like that."

"He stole Tony from Finn!" Rachel shouted in irritation. "Feminine gay guys should not try to be masculine!"

Lea was quick with a rebuttal. "That's stereotypical Rachel, especially coming from someone who grew up with two gay dads. Tell me, are they proud of you for that?" She didn't give her a chance to answer fore she went on. "Furthermore, Finn didn't even audition for West Side Story and Tony was supposed to go to Blaine."

Rachel's eyes darkened. "I highly doubt the role of Tony could go to someone who didn't even go to McKinley," she said shortly. It was clear she was angry. But of course. Everything was being turned against her again.

"What?" Lea asked, confusion lacing her voice. "Darren?" she went on, turning her attention back to the one person there she actually knew.

"They don't know Blaine Lea. In this reality, Kurt and Blaine never met. It ultimately lead to a life threatening attack by Karofsky. Kurt ended up accidentally killing him to save his own life and got sixteen years in prison for involuntary manslaughter. It was Rachel who convinced Karofsky to show up that night," he said, throwing a glare in Rachel's direction.

The girl threw her hands up in exasperation. "How many times do I have to tell people?! I didn't know he would actually try to kill him!"

Santana stood from the table then. "You actually expect us to believe that?! You were the only one who had any idea Kurt was still having issues with Karofsky! Kurt hid it so well the rest of us never had a clue! But you, you were close enough to him that he lowered his insecurities around you." Rachel opened her mouth in retort but Santana wasn't done. "If you were honestly concerned about how bad things were getting, you would have tried to talk to him about it. But you never did. You knew things were that bad and you still sent Karofsky to him. So don't give us that shit!"

Rachel was stunned into silence. It was as if she had never expected anyone to figure her out. Did she feel guilty about having her suspicions about it and never coming forward? Yeah she did. It was one of the reasons she wanted things with Kurt to start over so badly. But nobody seemed to think that was possible.

"Is that true Rachel?" Lea finally asked, breaking the new silence that filled the room after Santana's outburst. Rachel turned her head to stare at the phone. She could almost picture someone who looked exactly like her, staring back at her with the most heartbreaking expression of disbelief on her face.

"I—I don't know what to say," Rachel said. It seemed that for once, she was at a loss for words. She'd been cornered and she knew it. There was no way she was going to get out of this one.

Lea let out a sigh and once more her attention went back to Darren. "Darren," she said. "I think I'm going to talk to Ryan about some major changes for Rachel's character."

Darren widened his eyes. "What kind of changes?" he asked.

"Well first, I'm going to start with making her life more realistic. She needs to be told no sometimes," she said. "If you take a step back and look at the situation, you realize that Rachel has everything handed to her on a silver platter. She's been unrealistically easily successful in all her endeavors because no one is brave enough to actually tell her no," she said.

"Not true!" Rachel protested. "I was told no once! I lost Maria to Mercedes!"

Santana rolled her eyes. "Oh please. You decided you didn't want that role if there was even the slightest chance Finn wouldn't be Tony. You didn't want to act opposite anyone else." Rachel's face fell.

"In our reality," Lea said. "Rachel and Mercedes had a diva off for a final callback because the directors couldn't decide between them."

"In the end," Darren put in. "The directors still couldn't decide between them. Even though it was obvious to everyone that Mercedes had done the song better — including Rachel — they still couldn't say no to her and the two of them were double cast."

Rachel's eyes went wide. "You mean I would have ended up sharing the role with her?" she asked.

"Well if your reality followed ours exactly in that respect, no." Lea said and Rachel got a confused look on her face. "Mercedes got really unhappy about the fact that no one could say no to Rachel and point blank asked why it was no one could. And then she dropped out, said she didn't want the role because she didn't want to share it."

Rachel made a tsking sound and folded her arms across her chest. "Well, that's selfish," she said.

"Really Berry?" Santana asked. "You have the nerve to call _Mercedes_ selfish? She just wanted to prove that she could be just as good as you but you know something? Lea's right. No one has the courage to tell you no." Rachel opened her mouth but Santana went on. "Not even Carmen Tibideaux after you blew your NYADA audition. But you know why no one can say no to you? Because you've made everyone believe that no is not an option when it comes to you. It's either you get it, or no one gets it. Think about what happened when I landed the part of your understudy. You are the only star on Broadway who insists you don't need one and will be damned if you let anyone else have a little limelight. It's not going to hurt your career to let your understudy perform once in a while!"

Darren tutted and looked between the two of them. "That happened here too?" Santana nodded her head. "Makes me wonder how you resolved it. It was Kurt and Mercedes singing _I Am Changing_ that put the healing path on track. Without Kurt…" he trailed off.

Santana just shook her head. "Brittany made me realize some things so I quit. I did it for me."

So that was pretty much the same and hadn't really changed. It was Brittany who had influenced that decision in their reality too. Darren nodded his head.

"I never thought I would be saying this about my own character," Lea spoke then, "But Rachel, you need to take a step back and look at yourself. You are horrible horrible person and I don't know all the details of what happened with Kurt but I guarantee you, forgiving or not, he's never going to forgive you," she said.

"He's not the one in prison right now anyway," Darren commented and Rachel looked at him very funny. "We don't know where Kurt is, hopefully with the real Blaine. But Chris is in his place. Chris plays Kurt in our reality. All he has to do is pretend to be him and the guards won't know the difference."

"Than you don't need the tape," Rachel quipped, holding out a hand to Santana.

"Yes we do," Santana said firmly. "Just because it's not the actual Kurt in the cell, doesn't mean he's not still incarcerated. Kurt may not be the one physically in the cell, but he is the one still serving a sentence. And if you have any compassion, you will continue to let us go through with this," she told her.

Rachel dropped her hand and elapsed into silence, apparently out of any sort of fight. She seemed to finally be at the end of her rope.

"You confirmed it's the right tape?" Darren asked Santana who nodded her head.

"What's this tape?" Lea asked, reminding them she was still on the line.

"It's a recording of the attack Jacob Ben Israel took. It's the proof that Kurt was acting in self-defense," Darren told her.

"And that coupled with Kurt's confession that he had only intended to injure Karofsky, not kill him," Santana added, "Should hopefully be enough to grant his release."

Lea's voice when she next spoke was laced with confusion. "Why?" she asked.

"Because you apparently can't be charged when acting in self-defense in Ohio," Darren told her.

"Huh," Lea said. "I didn't know that."

"Me either," Darren replied.

"Well, go free Kurt or Chris or whatnot," Lea said, causing Darren to laugh. "Just get yourselves home as soon as you can so Glee can come off hiatus."

Darren gave his head a nod. "We're trying Lea," he said.

"Good. Hope to see you soon."

"You too," he replied. There was a click as Lea hung up the phone and Santana pocketed her own phone. "So I guess we know what we have to do now," Darren said to her.

The Latina nodded her head. "Go see the authorities," she said. Darren gave a firm nod and Santana crossed to grab Rachel by the arm. "Come on Berry. We're taking you along for the ride." And with that, the three of them headed out the door.


	24. Real World Interlude Three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so this chapter is a bit on the short side. Probably the shortest chapter so far but that's okay because it's a real world interlude chapter and I meant for those to be shorter anyway. Anyway, we will know what Lea has done with the information in this chapter.
> 
> Thanks to ChrisCalledMeSweetie and sorry my mind is kind of elsewhere today to all of you!
> 
> Comments and kudos make me smile. Enjoy!

Lea wasn't exactly sure how to approach what she had been thinking about since what was perhaps the oddest phone call she had ever had. But it gave her closure that Darren was okay and although Chris was apparently in prison, he was seemingly okay as well.

Her biggest issue was that the real Rachel made her ashamed of her own character. Lea had always loved playing the character that everyone loved to hate but the way the real Rachel was, just made her want to hate her. No love intended at all in this case.

She figured than, that if they existed in an alternate reality because the Glee cast had created them, maybe by changing things about her character, things would change for the real Rachel as well. It was worth a shot.

After what she had heard though, she doubted there was any chance of salvaging the Hummelberry friendship. For one thing, they hadn't been friends there for two years and in the Glee verse they were as close as ever. The differences were too far removed now. That wouldn't be changed.

She had to talk to Ryan but she had to be ready with a proposal. She considered it would be wise to give an update and probably okay too.

But this was not something Lea was taking very lightly. There was a lot at stake here.

She went over the conversation in her head. Despite how weird it had been and the constant staticky background, it had felt like a normal conversation. Though she didn't much appreciate her own character throwing accusations at her. That part certainly wasn't very pleasant at all.

She arrived at Ryan's office and drew a breath before tightening the ponytail in her hair and raising a hand to knock on the door.

"Come in!" Ryan called out and Lea took another breath before opening the door and stepping into the office. "Lea, how lovely to see you," he said when he saw her and she offered him a small smile. "To what do I owe this visit?" he asked.

Lea moved and took a seat in the chair across from him. "I got a phone call today," she started. Ryan gave her a nod, encouraging her to go on. "It was from the other reality." He sat up, interest piqued.

"Really?" he asked. Lea nodded.

Lea drew another breath. "Darren's okay. He was there when the call was made," she started. "But Ryan the real Rachel, she's awful. Kurt is in prison because of her," she said, causing the producer to widen his eyes.

"What do you mean Kurt's in prison?" he asked, a bit in a stunned tone of voice. It was unlike anything Lea had ever heard from the man before. He was seriously bewildered and possibly stumped.

"In that reality, Kurt and Blaine never met. It resulted in Kurt killing Karofsky to save his own life. And now because Chris and Darren have been thrown into Kurt and Blaine's places seemingly, Chris is behind bars." Ryan did not look very happy about learning that one of his stars was in prison in an alternate reality that thought he was a fictional character he played on TV. "Darren and Santana are working on releasing him but Rachel's kind of in the way. Anyway, it got me thinking," she started, getting to her point of the conversation.

Ryan was listening to all this with intense surprise. He never realized that things could actually have happened differently and why Lea was allowed to learn so much he wasn't sure but she was like a link now for them to judge what was going on in that reality where two of their own were stuck.

"What were you thinking about Lea?" he asked calmly, surprising himself.

She took another breath. "I want to make some changes to Rachel. I think that maybe, changes we make to the characters might possibly have an effect on the real ones. But Ryan what I learned about the real Rachel in the phone call, I didn't like. I want to start by having more realism and Rachel getting rejected sometimes. It's only natural that she would be," she explained.

Ryan tapped his chin in thought for a moment. "You've really thought this through, haven't you?" he asked. Lea nodded her head. The determination in her face was clear and well, if this was something she wanted than who was Ryan to deny her?

"I have," she replied. "I think Rachel's character would benefit from showing the world that she's not just this perfect little flower who gets everything she wants. People are right, no one has the guts to tell her no. It's time to come up with someone who does," she said with a firm nod of her head. "In fact, maybe it's time for Kurt to give her a reality check. If there's one thing we have proven it's that Kurt is usually always right between them. Instead of worrying about how long this hiatus is going to last, let's use the time to make changes and make the show the best it can ever be for the future series end," she went on to say, feeling immensely proud of herself.

Ryan really had to give Lea credit for all this. She was really thinking more into it than just making changes for Rachel. She was thinking of ways to close out the series on a high note and trying to involve other people and their characters in realistic ways.

It did amaze him that there was proof the characters could live on their own timeline in a completely different turn of events. So the saying went with time travel. One minor not so important change can open up a whole new can of worms. Lea was right. It was time for Glee to get a serious makeover and go out next season with a bang! Just like they had come in.

"I'll start arranging development meetings," he said causing Lea to squeal slightly. "I'd like you to head off the first one. Fill everyone in. Can you do that for me?" he asked her.

Lea nodded her head enthusiastically. "Oh yes, I think I can do that. We can keep a log of the ideas we come up with for Kurt and Blaine too so that Chris and Darren can take a look whenever they're returned home, before we get back to filming."

"That's a great idea Lea," Ryan said. "It will be a good opportunity to keep my promise to Darren about giving Blaine more direction than just Kurt."

"That's what he's been upset about?" Lea asked in surprise and Ryan confirmed it with a nod.

"Darren expressed that he felt Blaine was too one-dimensional with Kurt seemingly being his only reason for being around," he explained. "And I can see his point. For a large part of Blaine's existence on the show, if Chris left, Darren would have no reason to stay. Blaine was specifically made for Kurt. So now, Blaine needs direction in which he can stand on his own." He looked thoughtful for a moment. "Kurt can stand on his own if need be but now, it won't be nearly as easy as it was before he met Blaine."

"So it kind of works both ways," Lea said. Ryan nodded his head.

"Exactly. But the difference between the two is that Kurt has always had other plot arcs in his storyline. Blaine, hasn't really. Nothing that could be a character developmental plot anyway. We could have worked more with his background in some stories, like the Sadie Hawkins episode so I do feel a little guilty for passing that stuff up." He looked down momentarily.

"Don't worry," Lea said. "Now is the time to fix all that. We can sit back and really bring everyone around full circle," she encouraged.

"I like the way you think now. Thank you for this talk Lea. It was inspirational." She stood from her seat with a smile.

"Glad we could have it," she said. "I'll let you know if I learn any more about Darren and Chris' situation," she told him, placing her hand on the doorknob.

"I appreciate that," he said. "I'll let you know on meeting dates."

"Thanks. Have a good day Ryan."

"You too Lea." And she walked out of the room with a smile on her face.


	25. Chapter Twenty-One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, I know it's late and I apologize. It's taken me all day to write this. The motivation just wasn't there today. But I got it done. I has to remove myself from socializing because I kept getting distracted and I wanted to make sure it was at least 2000 words and that's starting to feel like a stretch now.
> 
> Thanks to ChrisCalledMeSweetie who I apologize to for not replying to your last comment. It was thunderstorming here and my net was being sketchy. Thanks to all my readers and devoted followers. I love you guys. And thanks to Darren Criss for saying his favorite character would be Figgins. What are we to do with you?
> 
> Comments and kudos make me smile. Enjoy!

Kurt and Blaine were lying on the cold concrete floor beside each other and staring up at the ceiling. Sleep came in odd patches. But neither one of them were tired. They were both wide awake with the turn of events.

That was a given. With his eyes glued to the screen the last few hours, Kurt didn't know what to think anymore. If Rachel honestly thought that he would ever forgive her for what she had done, she was sadly mistaken because that was not going to happen. People were right. It was far passed the appropriate time to attempt to make amends. Perhaps if her guilt had been strong enough when it happened to attempt to make peace right away, they might have gotten somewhere but not now. It was over.

A part of him didn't want to believe it and wanted to believe that this was all one big mistake and Rachel didn't really cause the whole mess. But a larger part was squashing that down reminding him that he could sometimes be delusional about what was going on in his life. This was straining to be one of those times.

Kurt let out a bit of a sigh and turned onto his side, away from Blaine. Though he felt like he really could tell the other boy anything, he just didn't want to talk about this. Making the decision to never forgive a friend — or rather someone he had thought was a friend — was one of the hardest things he had ever done in his life.

"Are you okay?" Blaine's voice piped up in the still cold darkness. Kurt just nodded his head. "Are you sure?" Blaine persisted, unconvinced. Kurt was grateful to have someone who seemed to really care about whether or not something was bothering him but right now, he needed to handle this on his own.

"No, but it's not something I want to talk about yet," he said quietly, still turned away from Blaine.

"Okay," Blaine said simply. And that was another thing he liked about him. He didn't push him to talk like so many of his other friends had. This was what made Kurt more willing to open up to Blaine in the first place.

The twenty year old found himself curling up a little, eyes squeezing shut as he fought the apparent threat of tears. Rachel was not worth crying over. She had a really ugly heart if she could do what she had done to him. Still, it didn't mean his heart wasn't feeling the pain. It was always going to hurt. But now she deserved what she got out of this. And though abandonment was kind of harsh, she was the one who had abandoned him first.

The silence drifted in around them and Kurt tried to focus on something other than Rachel's betrayal. Like the fact that if he had the date right, he would be twenty-one in twenty-four days. Twenty-one. Him. Fully legal and so far, he would be spending it in prison. But if Darren and Santana were successful with that tape, than maybe he wouldn't have to.

But thinking about officially being twenty-one was not helping his mood and Kurt wrapped his arms around himself, feeling like all he could come up with was just making him worse.

It was only a few moments later that he suddenly felt the warmth of arms encircle around him and a chest was pressed up against his back. Blaine. Blaine had tentatively wrapped him in his arms and for the first time since before his whole ordeal started, he felt peace wash over him.

Kurt allowed his body to relax against Blaine and he sighed contentedly. The younger boy pulled him firmer against him and held on for dear life as though he were afraid Kurt was going to float away if he chanced loosening his grip or letting him go.

The pale man's head turned slightly so he could look up at Blaine who was staring back at him, the warmest expression he had ever seen in his honey-hazel eyes and suddenly Kurt couldn't help himself a moment longer. He leaned forward on instinct and captured Blaine's lips with his.

Blaine gasped but kissed him back. Kurt turned his body so he was fully facing Blaine and gripped his shirt in his hands. Blaine pulled him impossibly closer and the kiss went from being tentative to positively searing and hungry. Kurt's grip on Blaine's shirt tightened and Blaine's fingers dug themselves harder into Kurt's back in kind. The pale man was certain they would leave bruises but he didn't care.

They were forced to part for air a moment later and Kurt rested his forehead against Blaine's trying to even out his breathing which had rapidly become labored.

"Oh my god," Kurt whispered. "I'm sorry." He suddenly felt horrified for what he had just done, even though Blaine had responded in kind. But that didn't mean the other boy wasn't just caught off-guard.

Blaine chuckled. "I'm not," he said. There was only a beat before the two of them were kissing again, hands roaming each other's bodies and Kurt felt like his every nerve was on fire. Was this what real attraction felt like? Or was it just a caught up in the moment thing?

Blaine's hands boldly traveled down to the hem of Kurt's prison issue uniform shirt and his fingers slipped beneath it. Kurt broke the kiss in favor of gasping at the sudden subtle contact of skin on skin.

"Take it off!" he found himself begging into Blaine's mouth. "Please." Their lips reconnected again and Kurt licked the seam of the other boy's mouth. Blaine rewarded him with opening it eagerly, allowing Kurt's tongue to lick its way inside and oh it was heaven. Blaine tasted like a mixture of the fresh fruit they'd eaten that morning and coffee.

Blaine's hands fumbled with the buttons on Kurt's shirt as he attempted to get the garment off the pale man. Kurt giggled into his mouth before gently pulling away and removing his hands to make work of the buttons himself. Blaine widened his eyes and moved to pull his own shirt up over his head.

Both free of their restricting garments, the two boys sprang back together, pressing as close as possible to revel in the new skin on skin contact as they battled for dominance over each other's mouths.

Kurt could feel his heart beating hard in his chest. His blood felt like it was boiling and the way their bodies seemed to just fit together easily was so invigorating. He could feel Blaine's body heat intermixing with his own as the two of them moved together. When Blaine changed their position so that he was lying on top of Kurt and Kurt had his heated back pressed flush against the cement floor, the pale man just about lost it.

He whined and held himself together, eagerly spreading his legs so Blaine could drop down between them and then, the friction of the other boy's erection pressed against his own caused him to groan low in his throat and he bucked his hips up experimentally.

The action pulled a groan out of Blaine as well and the boy started rutting against him and oh God that felt so good.

Kurt was wracking his brain as they continued to rut against each other, trying to figure out why he had avoided meeting this boy earlier in life. Where would he be now? Would things be different? His brain short-circuited shortly afterward as the pressure and friction built and the next thing he knew, a cry of Blaine's name was leaving his lips as he came hard in his pants.

Judging by the repeated sentiment from the other boy, Blaine followed not far behind him and Kurt blushed just a little. The rutting they had just done was the most sexual interaction he had ever had with anybody and he did feel slightly embarrassed because he was twenty years old.

"What's wrong?" Blaine asked softly, sweat dripping down his bare chest and hand reaching up to gently brush Kurt's own sweat damp hair out of his eyes.

Kurt blushed again and glanced down. "I've um…I've never done anything like that before," he managed to tell him.

Blaine lifted Kurt's chin with his hand so they could look at each other and smiled softly. "Neither have I. But I definitely wouldn't hesitate to do it again," he told him. A small gasp left Kurt's mouth and Blaine leant forward to press a sweet chaste kiss to his lips. "Feel better?" he asked.

"Yeah, actually," Kurt replied, a small smile appearing on his face. "Thank you."

Blaine chuckled. "It was a pleasure," he said.

"It certainly was," Kurt replied.

A comfortable silence followed. Blaine moved down behind him again and just pulled Kurt back in against his chest. Kurt had never felt more safe than he did at that moment. He loved the feeling of being held by someone so amazing.

Kurt knew he had an issue with falling in love quickly. He didn't want that to happen here. He really liked Blaine but the fact was after this was over, who knew if they would ever even see each other again? Maybe the woman in white would erase their memories when this was over and they would go back to life and never remember the other. Maybe Kurt would be back in prison because none of this would have really happened.

Kurt wasn't sure if he liked all the possibilities running through his head about all this.

"Something wrong Kurt?" Blaine asked, placing small little kisses to the back of the other's neck. It was soothing to Kurt and light pants began to fall from his mouth.

"I'm scared Blaine," he admitted. "What if when all this is over, things go back to how they were and we don't know each other anymore?" Blaine was quiet for a moment. He hadn't thought of that either and Kurt wasn't sure whether he wanted to know him beyond all this or not.

Blaine pulled him closer and pressed a kiss to his hair. "I won't let that happen Kurt. I will imprint your name to my mind and come here to find you," he said. Kurt let out a choked noise and nuzzled his head beneath Blaine's chin.

"I know we hardly know each other but Blaine, I feel like we were meant to know each other," he said, maneuvering to turn around so he could face him. They were both still shirtless and the warmth radiating from Blaine's body made him the most comfortable he had been since he had gotten there.

"I know," Blaine said, gazing into his eyes. "I feel the same way." Kurt and Blaine just stared at each other for a long period of time. And then they were kissing again, soft and sweet and it was the most perfect feeling Kurt had ever had.

He clung to Blaine like his life depended on it. The kiss was once more setting fire to his body. He felt like fireworks were bursting overhead and he was right where he belonged.

They broke apart and Blaine stroked his cheek gently. "I will do everything in my power to make sure that never happens," he whispered.

"I could fall in love with you," Kurt whispered back. Blaine just smiled softly and closed the distance between them, kissing him again. And yeah, Kurt could definitely fall in love with him.

As long as they were here together, he was going to make the most of their time. But if Darren and Santana were on the right track, they wouldn't be here much longer. Unless of course the woman in white went along with them trying to find them. Santana apparently didn't know where they were and Kurt wasn't sure how he felt about that.

He lay staring up at the ceiling in Blaine's arms sometime later. Blaine had drifted off to sleep with Kurt still wrapped up in him. Their lips were both kiss bruised and swollen but Kurt couldn't imagine the last time he genuinely felt this happy.

He was playing over in his mind all the things that he wanted to do with his newfound freedom. The first was to make sure Rachel knew she was no longer a part of his life. The next was that he wanted Blaine to know how important he was quickly becoming. Blaine already meant a lot to him.

It was for that reason Kurt wasn't so upset with a new state of imprisonment. He was stuck with the best possible companion he could ever imagine.

He thought a lot about what had been said. How Darren and Chris played him and Blaine in their reality. It was weird to think that there was another reality in which he was just a fictional character. Kurt would be lying if he said he had ever though about that before. But than you did have to expect the unexpected sometimes, right? Sure.

But if Kurt and Blaine were supposed to be together, why were they just meeting now under these circumstances? He wondered what had happened to cause his life to deviate so greatly from the life of the fictional Kurt Hummel. They were saying that if not for them creating the characters, it wasn't likely they would exist elsewhere. That meant this reality.

The world worked in weird ways but somehow, what was meant to happen always found a way to happen. And though this adventure was anything but ideal, it had done one thing he would never forget. It brought him to Blaine.


	26. Chapter Twenty-two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh look! I finished earlier today! Among an array of posting on my HPRP site that I'm on. Mostly with my first year but some with my Chris faced charrie too. Anyway, I'm sorry but I've thrown another curveball at you here. It just kind of jumped out at me! And I'm finally introducing a character listed that I haven't yet so go me! And I think the ending of this chapter will put you all on cloud nine too.
> 
> Thanks to ChrisCalledMeSweetie who enjoyed the last chapter which I am still not happy with but I refused to let you all down yesterday. And thanks to everyone else who has stuck with me as I continue to write each new chapter daily. I'm so blessed for you all. So thank you.
> 
> Comments and kudos make me smile. Enjoy!

The drive to the police station was the longest Darren had ever felt. His mind was reeling with the whole prospect of the future. He wanted to free Chris. He wanted to hold the man tightly in his arms. Okay, technically free Kurt but it was Chris that was in prison right then.

Okay so maybe he should just say he could free both of them. The point here was to grant them their freedom. It was weird to think of it as being two people he needed to free now.

He didn't know what to expect. He wasn't sure whether this would go smoothly or not. He didn't know how the law system worked in this reality. He made it a point to check Ohio law when he got out of this reality and see if it was the same back home.

What he and Santana certainly had not been expecting was for something to happen that would turn the whole case on its head.

Darren didn't realize his hands were shaking as he followed the Latina into the police station. They were dragging Rachel with them because they didn't trust leaving her behind in Darren's rental car. Though they really didn't want her present when they turned the tape in.

"Can I help you?" The woman at the front desk asked and Darren and Santana exchanged brief looks. Santana decided she would take the lead on this situation. She knew more about it than Darren did.

"Is Detective Pascal in?" she asked, trying to sound polite which really couldn't be easy for her because Santana was naturally a bitch. The woman looked down at her computer for a moment before she looked back up with a raised eyebrow.

"What do you want with Detective Pascal?" she asked, curiously.

Clearly Santana hadn't expected to be replied to in that manner. She pulled the tape out and set it on the counter. The woman glanced at it briefly. "We need to talk to him about the David Karofsky murder case. We have evidence that Kurt Hummel was acting in self-defense."

The woman looked back at the tape. "You didn't hear?" she asked in surprise.

"Lady I make it a point not to make the lives of law enforcement my business beyond necessary negotiations," Santana said. "So stop beating around the bush."

The woman sighed. "Detective Pascal had his badge revoked and is currently serving time behind bars." Santana's eyebrows shot up into her hairline and she and Darren exchanged looks. This was not where they had hoped to get with this.

"Why?" Darren asked carefully, speaking up for the first time.

"I always thought the man was sketchy," Rachel piped up. Santana threw her a glare.

"Shut it man hands! Nobody asked you!" Rachel frowned and Santana turned her eyes back on the woman at the desk. "Well?" she asked.

"False allegations. After Hummel was put away, it came out that Detective Pascal was withholding information. Something about not letting that fag roam free," she said. This startled both Santana and Darren, the two or them glancing at each other.

"What kind of information?" Santana pressed, eyes narrowing ever so slightly at the woman, daring her to withhold the answer from her. But if this was front page news, as it might have been because the woman was surprised they hadn't heard about it, than there was no reason to keep the information from them.

The woman glanced between them and looked down at the tape on the counter. She leaned forward carefully. "You didn't hear this from me," she said. "But apparently, David Karofsky did not actually die that night."

"What?!" the three of them shouted together. It was Darren who lunged forward with his hands slapping down on the counter, teeth gritted.

"And do I need to ask why Kurt has been in prison all this time if David Karofsky isn't dead?" His tone was dark and Santana gave him an impressive look. She knew what that was all about. Darren was furious that his beloved was now behind bars when Kurt should have been free all along.

To her credit, the woman was not offended by Darren's sudden irritation. "Because no one knows where he is. Detective Pascal is the only one and he isn't talking," she said.

Darren decided that it was time for the shit to hit the fan. In this reality, Rachel and Santana had no clue of the real reason behind why Karofsky was so intent on making Kurt's life a living hell. There was no suicidal attempt, which only happened because Karofsky switched schools, which happened because things became shady for him at McKinley and he was trying to make sure no one knew that he was actually gay.

He slammed his hands down on the counter a second time. "You said Pascal wanted to put Kurt away because he was gay well, he's a big dumb idiot than because no one knew this but David Karofsky is gay!" he shouted. Rachel and Santana were both stunned into silence for a moment before Santana seemed to recover herself and grabbed Darren by the arm.

"Excuse us for a moment," she said in a sickeningly sweet voice. She dragged Darren out of the station with Rachel having no choice but to follow them, still looking completely stunned. "What the hell Darren?!" she bit out. "You can't just make accusations like that!"

Darren drew a breath. "First off, I advise you to remember where I came from," he said and Santana gave him a knowing look for a moment. "Secondly, I'm not making accusations. The bullying storyline was set that Karofsky was bullying Kurt because he was a closeted gay. The reason he threatened Kurt's life in your junior year was because Kurt confronted him and Karofsky ended up kissing him. Kurt told no one, except Blaine," he explained, watching as both girls looked at each other.

"Which means he told no one because he didn't know Blaine," Santana stated. Darren nodded his head.

"I don't know what gave him the courage to confront Karofsky here but in the Glee verse, it was Blaine's encouragement."

Rachel had fallen suddenly quiet. A vast array of feelings and ideas pounded through her head and her guilt increased. She knew Kurt had been hiding that there were still issues with Karofsky but it had never even crossed her mind that they may be sexually related. Karofsky was a meathead jock. Even growing up with two gay dads, hadn't given her the know how to so much as consider he might be gay.

This ultimately meant that she didn't know just how bad things were and now she really wished she had been a better friend and tried to make Kurt talk.

"Do you think he raped him?" she asked, voice strangely quiet as the other two turned to look at her. She was hugging herself tightly, skin having gone pale, which was a feat with how tan she naturally was.

"The only way to know that for sure, is to talk to Kurt," Darren said quietly.

"And as of right now, we don't know where the real Kurt is," Santana said. The Latina started pacing, biting her lip and thinking. "But the fact that they don't know where Karofsky is explains why Kurt is still behind bars."

"Exactly," Darren said, nodding his head as realization hit him. "Without confirmation that he is still alive, they have to keep going on him being dead and that by association is what is keeping Kurt in prison."

Santana tapped her chin in thought. "In this case, the tape is irrelevant. Even with the confirmation that Kurt was acting in self-defense, they still can't carry out freeing him now without confirmation on whether Karofsky is alive or dead," she said. "That one detail turned this whole case on its head. You can't free someone for murdering someone in self-defense if the supposed victim may not actually be dead."

"So, I guess that means we have to prove whether Karofsky is dead or alive," Darren said, frustration lacing his voice. Why did this just get that much more difficult? He was so certain that he was in the homestretch, freeing Kurt and Chris and hopefully finding his way back home where he and Chris could live happily ever after. And Kurt and Blaine in kind as well.

"Doesn't that mean we have to look for him?" Rachel asked, biting her lip and looking between them.

She was right. They had to look for Karofsky and Pascal wasn't talking apparently. However, maybe if they came forth with the information that Karofsky was gay, he would stop protecting him. But then another thought crossed Darren's mind.

If it was in fact true that David was not actually dead, why had no one informed Mr. Karofsky of this? Or if he knew, why didn't he tell Darren? Was Paul hiding something from everyone else? Did he know something he wasn't telling anyone? The twenty-seven year old dismissed that idea almost as soon as he'd thought of it. Paul Karofsky was too genuine in his heartache and words to have been hiding something. On top of that, if he was, he had no reason to even so much as pretend to be on Kurt's side. Therefore, he was as much in the dark about all this as everyone else was.

"If there's a chance Karofsky is alive," Darren noted aloud. "Why did no one tell his father?" Santana and Rachel looked at each other, neither of them having an answer for him. But it seemed someone else did.

"Because they didn't want to get his hopes up," came a new voice. The three of them turned to see a familiar tall blonde with a big mouth walking toward them. Where Sam Evans had come from, none of them knew but he suddenly sounded like he knew more about the case than anyone could give him credit for.

"Sam?" Rachel questioned and he offered her a brief polite smile. Clearly, he wasn't pleased with her actions still. None of them knew where he came from.

"Glad you didn't drop off the face of the earth trouty mouth," Santana said, looking him up and down. Darren was just at a loss for what in the world was possible going on right then.

Sam sheepishly ran a hand over his hair. "Sorry," he said. "But after the accusation on Pascal came out, I did some digging," he said. "See, Detective Pascal is my uncle," he went on and the three of them widened their eyes. "He's my mom's older brother. I guess he followed us when we moved to Ohio. He was always kind of protective of her." No one said anything so Sam went on. "When the news on him came out, I went to his house and my aunt gave me access to his study." He held up some papers and waved them in the air. "This is all the details. If it's right, I know where we can find Karofsky."

"Trouty mouth if I wasn't a lesbian I would kiss you right now," Santana said. Apparently, Sam had a lot more brains than anyone gave him credit for. At least in this reality.

Darren just looked between them for a moment. "I guess we're going after Karofsky," he said and that was clear to everyone. Convincing him to come forward was likely going to be harder than looking for a needle in a haystack.

The curly haired man would be lying though if he said he was looking forward to this. He was ready to get back home to his own reality. Ready to take Chris home and kiss him senseless and make love to him until three days morning light passed or something. He imagined pressing Chris gently into the mattress and kissing all over his pale skin and—Darren forced himself off that train of thought. Getting aroused right then was not a good idea.

But his imagination decided not to leave him alone. It changed course from pressing a beautifully naked Chris into the mattress to reveal an elegant hall. All of their friends and family were there, dressed up and smiling. Darren stood at the end of the long aisle, a beautiful red carpet walkway spread along it.

Lea and Ashley and Amber came down the aisle in matching dresses. Joey and Chord and Hannah also came down the aisle. Ashley, Amber, and Hannah all stood to one side and Joey, Chord, and Lea stood behind Darren. Then the music picked up. The traditional bridal march and the next thing the curly haired man knew, his eyes alit on Chris standing at the other end of the aisle.

The gorgeous pale man was dressed in a white tux, the trimming in a stunning pale blue that highlighted his eyes perfectly. A bouquet of white and pale blue roses was in his hands. The soft smile on his face was accompanied by a light blush, a question of if this was really happening.

And suddenly Darren knew what he was imagining. A wedding. A wedding that was clearly his and Chris' and he realized he had never wanted anything more than he wanted to ask that beautiful man to marry him.

Darren Criss was on cloud nine the entire drive back to the Hudmel house.


	27. Chapter Twenty-three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This probably would have gone up a couple hours ago if other things didn't get in the way but here it is now! And who enjoyed the oodles of sexy Kurt we got last night? I mean YUMMY! And that ep intro had me in stitches, silently because people were sleeping. Anyway, here's the chapter! Next chapter we'll get Karofsky.
> 
> Thanks to ChrisCalledMeSweetie and there's no reason to be jealous because I got nothing. :P No replies or nothing. I never do. Only one celeb has ever tweeted back at me, twice actually but he has nothing to do with Glee. And thanks bundles to all my other readers.
> 
> Comments and kudos make me smile. Enjoy!

David Karofsky it turned out was hiding out in Indiana. It was a road trip that Darren did not want to take because he didn't want to leave Ohio. Not with Chris still stuck in prison. So it was agreed that Santana and Sam would make the trip and Darren would stay behind and keep an eye on Rachel. The petite brunette was not sure how she felt about that. The other three didn't care.

"So, are you sure you're going to manage to find a way to talk to him?" Darren asked at the door. He had handed over the keys to his rental car for Santana and Sam to make the trip into Indiana. If he got in trouble for taking the car out of state, he'd deal with that later. Hashing out money to send them by plane when Santana had already been back and forth to New York a number of times wasn't an option.

"Relax," the Latina said with a roll of her eyes. "I highly even doubt Karofsky's aware of the situation," she said. Darren bit his lip in doubt.

"Don't be so sure. Pascal wanted Kurt to be out away because he was a homosexual. I'm sure he would have told Karofsky that he was safe from him for at least sixteen years," Darren said. Santana sighed. She had to admit that the man did have a point.

"Karofsky's also a meathead," she told him. "We'll win. I promise. And then you and porcelain 2.0 can go frolic in a meadow of dewy lilac or something."

It took all of Darren's resolve not to bust out laughing. If Santana had only known she had just reiterated part of something on Kurt's bucket list, she might have felt awkward. He forced himself to keep a straight face as best as he could.

Nothing more was said as he watched Santana get into the driver's seat of the car. Rachel stood behind him watching over his shoulder. Darren waited for the car to drive off before he shut the door and leaned back against it, shutting his eyes. A whole evening and probably night alone with Rachel Berry. Oh wait.

"Shit!" he spit out suddenly, causing Rachel to frown at him in disapproval.

"Language Blaine or Darren or whoever you are," she said, turning on her heel to walk into the kitchen. Darren however, caught her by the arm and shook his head violently, turning her instead toward the direction of the front door.

"Oh no you don't," he said. "You are leaving this house. Now! I don't care where you go but you can't stay here."

Rachel looked at him with an appalled expression on her face as though she couldn't fathom that he would suddenly do this to her. After all that had happened that day. But the truth was that the sun was close to setting and that meant the Hudmels would be home at any moment and Darren was quite sure Rachel was the last person they wanted to see in their house, particularly Burt.

"Excuse me?" she said in alarm, trying to hold her own against him but Darren was stronger.

"Did you forget Burt and Carole are going to be home any minute?" he asked roughly, side-eyeing the living room window to make sure there was no sign of headlights up the street. "They won't be happy that you're here."

Rachel defiantly crossed her arms over her chest and narrowed her eyes, turning her nose up in the air. "Tough. I'm here to help," she said.

"You really think Burt is going to believe that?" Darren asked, one eye still on the living room window. Rachel stayed quiet. Clearly she didn't have quite as much confidence about it as she was suggesting. "You really wanna help? Fine but go to your parents' house or something. You can't stay here," he went on.

There was a brief silence as she just stared at him before she slowly nodded her head. The glare of headlights fast approaching had Darren tensing up and hoping beyond hope it wasn't Burt and Carole. He was getting antsy and Rachel seemed to be taking her sweet precious time.

"Damnit Rachel get out!" he finally shouted as his nerves skyrocketed when the headlights came into view of the living room window. He threw open the door and shoved her out. She gave him a scathing look but he slammed the door in her face. Rachel stamped her foot and marched off. She had just turned onto the sidewalk as the car pulled into the driveway. Darren watched tensely from the window.

It was when he noticed Burt glance down the street as he got out of the car that he knew the man had seen Rachel. Sighing, Darren opened the door wider as he saw Kurt's dad turn a concerning eye on him. The man marched toward the door and Darren readied himself to be berated.

"Was that Rachel Berry?" Burt asked in a tone the curly haired man couldn't read. He bit his lip and decided he needed to tell Burt exactly what Rachel was doing there.

"I swear I didn't invite her sir," he said quickly. Burt raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything so Darren went on. "Santana was helping me out with something in New York so I could stay here," he explained. "She didn't invite Rachel either. Rachel invited herself when Santana came to bring me what she was getting in New York," he explained.

Burt looked slightly suspicious, but Darren somehow knew it wasn't of him. "What was Santana getting?" he asked.

"The tape. Jacob Ben Israel had a tape of the attack. Rachel was blackmailing him so Santana had to coerce her into giving it up so we could bring it to the authorities as proof that Kurt was acting in self-defense," Darren told him then. He was really starting to get tired of repeating everything.

The older Hummel shifted aside as Carole approached them. He glanced at Darren. "Why don't we take this to the living room and then you can tell me why Rachel was blackmailing Jacob," he said, causing Carole to give both of them a startled look of surprise. Darren smiled at her apologetically.

Burt lead the way back into the house, moving quickly into the living room where he sat down in his favorite armchair. Darren's mouth was dry and he was grateful when Carole excused herself to get them some drinks. This was going to be a bit of a doozy. He had hoped he wouldn't have to get into this and give Burt more of a reason to dislike Rachel Berry but if he was going to explain the situation, the man needed all the details.

"Now," Burt said, leaning back in the chair for comfort. "Why was Rachel blackmailing Jacob?" he asked.

Darren swallowed, attempting to moisten his dry throat and feeling little relief. This was it. This was the moment that everything was likely going to go to hell for Burt Hummel.

"Because she's the reason Karofsky was even there that night," Darren said in a quiet voice. Burt stared at him and Darren didn't like the odd silence that settled in around them so he hastened to explain further. "She tipped Jacob off about the attack too, perhaps intending for him to put it up for the whole school to see. I don't think she expected the attack to be of the scale it was. She didn't want people questioning her and she knew if Jacob went public with the tape, he'd tell them who had tipped him off and that could ruin her career."

The whole time he had been saying all of this, Burt had been sat stalk still in his seat. Carole had entered the room mid-explanation and stood frozen like a statue with a tray of drinks in her hands as an expression of disbelief crossed her face.

Now though, Burt moved. His fist slammed down on the chair arm. "Are you telling me that Rachel cared more about her future reputation than Kurt's freedom?" he asked in a dark voice and Darren nodded his head. Burt turned his eyes on his wife. "Carole, I want a restraining order on that girl. I don't want her anywhere near this house or Kurt for as long as she lives!" he gruffed out. Carole shakily placed the tray on the coffee table before nodding and hurrying out to see about the steps needed to get a restraining order placed on Rachel.

Burt was quiet, sitting there huffing for the next few moments before he looked back at Darren. "Did you take the tape to the authorities?" he asked.

Right. He'd forgotten that he would probably have to tell him what happened with that too. "Yes."

The man waited a beat but Darren didn't go on. "And?" he prompted.

The twenty-seven year old ran a hand over the back of his neck sheepishly. "And the tape would be irrelevant now," he managed to say.

"WHAT?!" Burt shouted and Darren was sure he had never heard the man sound that infuriated before. He knew how much Kurt meant to him and he knew how passionate Burt Hummel was when it came to his son. But this was a whole other level entirely.

"Detective Pascal," Darren rushed out, trying to explain the rest of it before Burt went on the rampage. "Had his badge revoked and was incarcerated for withholding information. It came out shortly after Kurt was sentenced that he knew Karofsky was actually still alive." Burt was stunned into silence and Darren licked his lips, continuing on with his explanation. "He wouldn't give up his location. His reasoning was to keep a homosexual behind bars where he couldn't molest normal men." He could see the anger return to Burt's face, beginning to purple it. "But because he wouldn't tell anyone where Karofsky was, there's now no proof of whether he's dead or alive and until it's proven one way or another, the tape is irrelevant evidence."

When Burt spoke again, he was eerily quiet. "So than, Karofsky has to be found and convinced to come forward and reveal himself." Darren could detect the tone of defeat in his words. Burt was already giving up the hope that he had clung to when he thought there was a chance his son may be released.

"There's still hope," Darren told him, reaching out a hand. "It turns out, Sam is Pascal's nephew," he said. Burt's eyes went wide as saucers. "His aunt, Pascal's wife, let him into Pascal's study after he was incarcerated. He found all the papers there. Karofsky's in Indiana," Darren confirmed. "Santana and Sam are on their way there to confront him right now. So there's still hope."

Darren hoped that the changes that Karofsky made in season three would still have influenced the change in the Karofsky in this reality. If it did, by now, he could be feeling an overwhelming sense of guilt and getting him to come forward and reveal himself to be alive and well may be as simple as walking down easy street.

"I hope they can convince him," Burt said quietly. Carole re-entered the room then.

"We'll go and talk to a lawyer tomorrow," she said. The man nodded quietly, the fight seemingly drained out of him.

Darren contemplated telling Burt the truth about himself but decided that he had had enough for one day. Besides, he wasn't sure how Burt would take the news of his son actually being missing when he was so sure that Kurt was still behind bars, not after everything else he had just had to stomach.

The curly haired man thought about Chris all through the evening. No one said a word at dinner and Burt went up to bed early, needing the time to think over everything that was going on. Darren wasn't initially intending on visiting Chris for another couple of days but with all the turn of evens that had happened so far, he thought that it was time to fill the love of his life in on everything. Things had taken a turn that definitely was not for the better but if Santana and Sam could convince Karofsky to come forward, they wouldn't need the tape.

Even as he lay on the bed in the guest room, staring at the ceiling that night, everything continued to play over and over in his head. Their one stroke of luck in the pass twenty-four hours was the appearance of Sam. But it could only go uphill from there now right?

Apparently, that sentiment was about to be proven wrong. In the late hours, Blaine's cell phone rang and Darren, still wide awake, picked it up from the nightstand, not knowing what to expect.

"What's up Santana?" he asked, wondering why she was calling so late. He knew they didn't plan to take a night because they wanted to get Karofsky back to Lima as soon as possible.

"You sound drained," she said and Darren could tell that her own voice seemed strained and frustrated. Oh no, what could have possibly happened now? Was David Karofsky missing in action? Did he leave Indiana? Was he actually dead?

"Burt saw Rachel leaving when he came home," he said, trying not to think about the reason Santana might be calling. "I ended up telling him about her involvement, the tape, and the news about Karofsky," he told her.

Santana drew a slightly tense breath at his words. "He didn't take it well, did he?" she asked in an uncharacteristically quiet voice.

Darren shook his head. "He and Carole are going to get a restraining order on Rachel." He could hear Santana nod. It was that eerily quiet. "Anyway, how are you guys doing so far?" He tried to brace himself for one of the things he thought he would hear.

"We may have a problem," she said with an irritated sigh. Darren sat up and pressed his back firmly to his headboard.

"Okay," he said sounding defeated. "Lay it on me." And when she spoke again, her words were like a bullet hitting him square in the chest.

"Karofsky has amnesia."


	28. Chapter Twenty-four

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hold up Dani, what's that? You wrote NICE Karofsky?! Yes. I actually did. You'll see. I felt like with all the victimizing already done in this fic that maybe I could give him a reprieve and for once do something in co ordinance with the turn around of his character on the actual show. I can't tell you if I have ever attempted to write a good Karofsky. I don't remember. But here it is.
> 
> Thanks to ChrisCalledMeSweetie as always! Much love to you for your continued devotion. And thanks to all my readers! This fic now has the highest number of reads of any of my fics on AO3 so thank you very much.
> 
> Comments and kudos make me smile. Enjoy!

Santana was pacing in the living room of the house where Karofsky lived. The former jock was staring at her with confusion lacing his face. Sam was watching her, head moving back and forth as she paced the room.

Everything in the last few minutes had happened on a blur. They showed up, late of course after leaving on the drive fairly later in the day. They knocked on the door or more like Santana pounded on it with her fist. The door was opened by a familiar face except said familiar face did not seem to recognize them at all. That was the first red flag.

"David Karofsky," Santana had said and to both her and Sam's surprise the former jock looked even more confused.

"Who?" he'd asked. And that was the second red flag. That was when Santana had called Darren and now she was pacing the living room of the house, her phone in her hand.

It was not going to make the situation easy. If David Karofsky had been suffering from amnesia for two years, how were they ever going to convince him to go back to Ohio with them? This was a completely different ball game than they had been expecting.

"Um," David said. "Do you mind telling me why you're here? I have to be at the humane society early tomorrow."

Santana paused in her pacing and whirled around, staring at him before glancing toward Sam who looked utterly bewildered in his own right.

The idea that David Karofsky was working for the humane society was laughable. This didn't make any sense to her. First she finds out that Karofsky apparently has amnesia. Then she finds out that he works at some place she never would have pictured him to be working at? Something was fishy here.

"Paul, come back to—oh." Santana and Sam both glanced up to see a woman — well at least that hadn't changed — in a nightdress entering the living room. But the fact that it was a woman who didn't know that David was gay wasn't what caught the Latina's attention. She had called him Paul, which ironically was David's father's name. The Latina narrowed her eyes. Yes, something was definitely fishy.

The idea that the amnesia thing might just be a coverup story entered her brain and well, she had to reluctantly give the meathead credit because he had fooled her at first. If he was in fact faking the amnesia. But calling himself Paul was way too coincidental for this to be entirely legitimate.

"Paul?" the woman repeated when David didn't look up at her the first time. Karofsky turned his head to look at her and she gave him a concerning look, raising an eyebrow at him. Santana didn't know if she was supposedly his girlfriend or whatnot. Even after the fact she wouldn't expect him to try and marry that quickly.

The Latina looked at David with narrowed eyes as he said nothing and turned back to her. Sam was looking at him, his expression still bewildered but with a touch of annoyance. David hadn't said anything since his claim to work at the humane society a few moments earlier. He looked as though he were apparently caught in a web of lies. And Santana was willing to bet he didn't want a single one to get out to this woman, whoever she was.

"Who are you?" the woman said then, looking up at Santana with caution. The Latina pulled her gaze from David and to the unknown woman, crossing her arms over her chest.

"I could ask you the same question," she said. The woman raised an eyebrow and mimicked her by crossing her own arms over her chest.

"My name is Lori," she said. "I happen to be his fiancé." A slow smirk crossed Santana's face and when she glanced back at David she caught the fear in his eyes and he shook his head back and forth violently. It was then that he made his mistake.

"No Santana, please!" he begged. Bingo! The faker was busted.

"Busted Karofsky," Santana spit out, glaring at him and watching his face go pale. "Let me ask you something. Are you even aware that Kurt's in prison?" By the widening of his eyes she could tell that he was in fact not informed of this little detail and now she had to wonder what kind of cock and bull Detective Pascal had been feeding him in the short time before he'd been detained.

Karofsky turned stark pale because no, he hadn't known what had happened to Kurt. He'd been so frightened when he woke up in the hospital that he'd just forgotten all about how much he hated Kurt, particularly when he remembered he had never really hated him at all. Envied him sure, but not hated. He was too scare to let Kurt know that though.

The point was that when he first became aware of being in the hospital and everything had filled back in, he was overcome with this dreadful fear that he had actually killed another human being. He had never meant for it to really get that far.

That was when Detective Pascal showed up and after David's persistent questions about Kurt and whether he was all right, he merely told him that Kurt was alive and the situation was being dealt with and not to worry about it. That was it. There were no details given. David hadn't had a television in his hospital room either so it wasn't like he had seen it on the news. Now he had to wonder if Pascal made sure of that specifically.

About a week after he woke up, Pascal had him relocated to a hospital in the state of Indiana and then told him to start over, forget everything about his old life and become someone else. Adopt a new identity and if anyone from his old life showed up, he was under explicit instructions to act as though he had amnesia.

He'd finished his senior year of high school there in Indiana, living with a guardian appointed by Pascal.

"Why?" he asked quietly. "Why is he in prison?"

Santana was ready to pay Pascal a visit in prison and give him a couple of hard punches to the face and stomach and maybe a kick to his nuts too. She could not believe that the man wouldn't give David a scrap of information about how the situation was handled on Kurt's end. This was ridiculous. No wonder the man had been apprehended and detained for withholding information.

"Involuntary manslaughter," Sam offered. "Kurt got sixteen years," he explained. David's eyes were round as saucers and he looked between Santana and Sam.

"Why? Why would he be charged with that?" he asked, not even believing that people would think Kurt Hummel physically capable of harming anyone.

"Because everyone thinks you're dead David," Santana told him. If David's face had been pale before, it was nothing to what it looked like now. "And Kurt agreed to involuntary manslaughter because he refused to admit he intended murder. He swears up and down that he didn't intend to kill you," she went on to say.

David shook his head. "No, no, he didn't," he said. Lori was still standing in the room looking positively confused about this whole debacle, not to mention the fact that this strange woman in her house was calling her fiancé the wrong name. "But my mind told me I intended to kill him," he admitted sadly.

A sharp gasp filled the room and everyone turned to look at Lori. Her mouth was gaping open and her hand was pressed to her chest and she had backed away a few steps.

"You meant to kill someone?!" she shrieked. David stood up and started toward her slowly but she backed away even more.

"Now Lori," he started.

"Don't you now Lori me Paul! Who are you?" she demanded. She didn't wait for a reply. Instead, she turned on her heel and disappeared up the stairs, the sound of things being thrown around indicating that she was probably packing a bag.

David didn't go after her. He didn't really feel the point. He couldn't actually love her. He wasn't really attracted to her. But Kurt…no, he couldn't think like that. There was no way Kurt would ever be interested in him as anything more than a friend. That was if Kurt was even willing to accept friendship.

The former jock had done a lot of thinking in his alone time and Kurt really didn't deserve how he had treated him. But given what Santana had just said, Kurt didn't even know that David was really still alive.

"Pascal is incarcerated," Santana told him. "For withholding information. His only goal was to keep a homosexual off the streets." David looked at her with surprise in his eyes, and even as she looked, she thought she saw a hint of anger flash behind them.

"Santana has a tape," Sam said. David looked at him, wondering what that had to do with anything. Sam went on. "You weren't the only one tipped off. JBI filmed the entire attack." Santana had taken the time during the drive to fill him in on everything that they had learned so far.

Karofsky's eyes went back to Santana and she nodded. "It's evidence of Kurt acting in self-defense. It would have meant his freedom," she told him. She had calmed down quite a bit, given that she now realized David was a victim in the aftermath of the incident, just like Kurt was. However, that did not change how she felt about him even attacking Kurt in the first place.

"What do you mean would have?" David asked carefully.

Santana sighed and ran a hand over her face. "They don't know now whether you're dead or alive. Pascal claimed you were still alive. It was part of the evidence he was withholding and kept quiet about until after Kurt had been sentenced and put away," she told him. "But he refused to tell anyone where you were. So without confirmation either way, the tape is irrelevant."

"How did you find me than?" David asked, wondering how they knew where to locate him. Santana and Sam glanced at each other.

"Pascal happens to be Sam's uncle," Santana explained. David was surprised at this obviously. Small world. "His aunt let him search his study after he was imprisoned."

"But because there is no confirmation whether you're alive or dead, we need you to come back to Ohio with us," Sam picked up again after Santana finished explaining how they knew where he was. David looked between them for a moment, turning this all over in his mind. Kurt didn't deserve to be in prison. If he returned alive and well, the charges would be dropped and Kurt would be free. But Pascal also threatened David against coming back. On the other other, he was in prison himself now and no longer a threat.

In the end, it came down to David doing what he thought was the right thing. Making amends to Kurt for everything. Returning to Ohio and proving himself to be alive and well, that was probably the best thing he could do to redeem himself. In a way, it meant that he was single-handedly setting Kurt free. And perhaps, not just from prison.

If this had happened right after the fact, he probably would have said yes because his logical mind to build a wall against actually having any kind of feelings toward Kurt had been shattered in his vulnerability. But a little while later and he would have just said hell no. He wasn't going to help release the fag from prison. His resolve had reestablished itself. But as he neared the end of his senior year, it was breaking again.

Maturity had caused David to think long and hard about everything and he had changed quite a lot in the two years since the incident. He knew what he had to do to prove that he wasn't the same David Karofsky they knew back then.

"Okay," he said quietly. And he wasn't surprised to see the stunned looks on Santana's and Sam's faces. Clearly they were not expecting this to be that easy and he really didn't blame them. They didn't know who he was anymore.

Just then, Lori came down the stairs. She threw David a frightened look as she hoisted the duffle on her shoulder up higher and gripped the handle on her suitcase tighter. She said nothing but proceeded to the front door and right on out without shutting it behind her. She was no doubt gone for good.

Santana and Sam glanced at each other and then looked back at David.

"We better get going," Santana said. "The sooner we bring you back, the sooner Kurt can be free, and the sooner Darren and Chris can hopefully go home."

David gave her a confused look. "Who are Darren and Chris?" he asked. What had he missed after leaving Ohio?

The Latina shook her head shortly. "Long story. But if we fix all this, maybe Berry will get the fuck out back to New York and I miss Britts," she said.

The old Karofsky would have pushed her for details because this whole situation was quite obviously a lot bigger than he had originally thought. He wasn't even sure how they had discovered he was alive I begin with but at least he now knew why he had never heard from his dad. He thought he was dead. Just like everyone else. That was probably why no one came looking for him either.

However, he wasn't that boy anymore. So he merely nodded his head and didn't press for details. He figured if it was necessary for him to know they would have told him in the first place.

So with Santana and Sam leading the way, David grabbed his house keys and followed them out the door. It was time to set things right.

"You'll be free Kurt," he whispered to himself as he followed them to the car. "I promise. You'll be free."


	29. Chapter Twenty-five

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay guys! This one is on the shorter side. But I wanted to do a quick look at things from Chris' POV with a bit of history about his feelings for Darren. There is a bit of dialogue at the end but for the most part it's dialogue free. You'll see what I mean. I need to figure out how the next chapter is going to play out. And a note, this weekend is going to be a busy one for me elsewhere so for the first time, I may fail to post daily. Just a warning.
> 
> Thanks to ChrisCalledMeSweetie for everything! I hope you like this chapter. And the rest of my readers too!
> 
> Comments and kudos make me smile. Enjoy!

Prison was a place that Chris prayed he would never land in again. He would tell himself this wasn't real but it was and no one knew he wasn't really Kurt. He spent countless hours hoping beyond hope that Darren would make progress and damn quick.

Everything about prison was terrifying. The cells were small and cramped. The cot bunks rather hard despite the mattress. The showers too communal even for him - a guy who was comfortable in his own naked skin. The other prisoners were all big and tough looking guys. The food tasted like cardboard. Most of the guards didn't give two shits about you. People kept eyeing him with a sexual hunger. And the handcuffs hurt like a bitch, often leaving him with chaffed wrists.

Yeah, Darren had better hurry the hell up with whatever he was doing to defend Kurt's case. Chris had only been in prison a few days but he wanted out. His respect for his own character grew rapidly. Chris couldn't handle those few days. How the hell did Kurt handle _two years_?

He had slept very little since he had found himself here. Actually, he had slept very little since Darren had first turned up missing. Speaking of Darren.

Every time Chris closed his eyes now, he would imagine Darren's beautiful face. How open the older man was. How sweet and caring and just all around amazing he was. Even though he could be a huge dork and sometimes, he wasn't the neatest with things. Like the way Darren seemed to scarf down food he was enjoying. He really made a mess of himself.

Just that thought reminded Chris of when they had filmed Tested. As proper and dapper of a gentleman as Blaine was, he certainly had bad table manners. At least in that episode. Stuffing his face with all that food and really, Chris hadn't even been aware Darren could stuff a whole cronut in his mouth at once. He had stood off-set gawking and watching the man fight the urge to actually eat it and not spit it out as he was required to do.

Darren had admitted during the live Q&A run on Twitter when the episode aired that it had been harder to spit the food out than to actually eat it because it was so yummy. Chris had to giggle just thinking about it.

Yes, Darren had his quirks and his silly little mannerisms but he was still Darren and those were all the things that Chris loved about him so much. The pale man could hardly believe that he could actually call the curly haired cutie his now.

The fact of the matter was that Chris had been in love with Darren since the moment they met that first day of filming together way back in season two. He'd fallen hard and fast and had ended up fighting tooth and nail to squash all those feelings down and not let them get in the way. Mostly because Darren was his co-star and at that point neither of them knew Blaine would end up becoming Kurt's romantic interest. When Ryan first brought Blaine to show, he was merely meant as a mentor for Kurt, meaning originally, Blaine was supposed to be the older one of the two. Ryan didn't know where he was going until he saw what the fans wanted. And it was the fans that ultimately sealed Klaine as one of the show's most popular and iconic romantic couples.

The other reason he worked so hard to squash all his feelings down was that at the time, Darren was defiantly straight. He had a girlfriend - the same one he still had now - and he was very happy with her. But over time, Darren started to refuse to discuss his sexuality in interviews; he didn't believe in labels either. There had been so much speculation and controversy regarding the truth about Darren's sexuality.

Perhaps one of the most annoying things at the time, were the fans who insisted that Chris and Darren were secretly dating. Both of them denied that claim and openly admitted their annoyance with it. Though Chris would continue to hide the fact that secretly, he wished it were actually true. The whole controversy about that very issue made his battle with his feelings for Darren that much worse.

That was why he had met Will. Will was openly gay, sweet, and amazing. He was supportive of everything Chris did, including his onscreen relationship with a co-star the rabid fans were begging to see happen in real life. He did things with Chris. Like when they had dressed up as R2D2 and C3PO for Halloween, with Brianbacca, and Darth Vader the pumpkin. Chris was happy, anyone could see it.

But not anyone could see he wasn't fully happy. Will made him happy and sure, Chris thought if they had settled down together, he would he okay. But his feelings for Darren didn't leave him. They didn't shrink or dissolve. They stayed right where they were and they grew with the progression of their onscreen relationship.

Neither Chris or Darren was really happy with the Klaine proposal storyline. Both were adamant about the characters being too young for that step. But they went through with it anyway and afterward, Chris had to put some space between himself and Darren for a couple of days. The toll the whole thing had taken on his heart was a bit much.

It finally came to a head when Will confronted him. He noticed Chris had been increasingly distant, which he pointed out Chris probably hadn't noticed himself because he threw himself into his work even more than usual.

It was no secret that Chris was a workaholic. He was constantly working on multiple projects at one time. And with TLOS3 coming out in July of that year, he had another book tour around the corner. Oh God he hoped Darren got them home again before that was to happen.

But Will had taken notice. The toll the Klaine proposal had taken on Chris' heart had intensified things and it was harder to repress his feelings for Darren. Will hadn't yelled about it. He hadn't screamed, he hadn't accused him, he hadn't gotten mad at all. Sometimes Chris wished he had. But no, Will had sat him down and calmly asked him if he had feelings for someone else.

Chris had been stunned. He hadn't realized that his inner heart was showing so openly. Will never mentioned Darren by name but Chris was sure he knew who the someone else was. When he checked himself, he realized that he gave the curly haired man consistent heart eyes both on and off camera. Will had been on set during filming a number of times.

He expected it to hurt. The breakup. But it didn't. It was a clean break with Will encouraging him to chase his heart, even though Chris repetitively told him that he had no chance because the person he felt for was straight and in love with a girl. It had been weird that though they both knew who they were talking about, neither of them ever mentioned him by name.

Chris hadn't felt an emptiness in his heart. He hadn't cried. He hadn't felt miserable or been bitter. It was as though he had never broken up with Will or even been in the relationship at all. And he'd be lying if he said he didn't find that strange.

But after the fact, Chris didn't know what to do. He couldn't confess to Darren that he was in love with him. So he did the only thing he could do. He threw himself into work even more. No longer having a boyfriend to set aside free time for, Chris got to a point where if he wasn't eating or sleeping, he was working.

But all that was different now. Or it would be once he got back to his own reality. He was done being mad at Darren. Mad at him for not really being enthusiastic about filming together anymore. Chris had thought he was losing him as a friend.

The giddiness in him was enough to make him squeal as he lay in the dark in the middle of the night. He fisted the mundane pillow he was given to sleep on and clamped his mouth shut tight. There was no way he was going to let his neighbors hear him squeal with happiness. Prisoners were not meant to be happy.

And then there was the meathead from the showers. The big guy who seemed to think that Chris was something of a prize. Or Kurt that was because everyone thought he was Kurt. Chris had to admit he was impressed with Kurt's ability to keep from losing his virginity in prison. If the meathead thought he would be successful taking Chris' though, he'd be mistaken. Chris wasn't a virgin. He hadn't been for quite some time.

Chris wasn't sure why the guy was after Kurt. But he didn't like the sexually hungry look the idiot always had in his eyes whenever he looked toward Chris. If Kurt was taken, it might help just a little bit but this was prison though. Inmates didn't give a damn if you were taken. Just whether you had soap on a rope.

His eyes moved to look over the basket of stuff he knew Kurt had gotten from Santana now. He knew because there were a few things in there only she would try to give him.

The pale man shook his head. It seemed the feisty Latina wasn't any different here than she was in his own reality. At least something was familiar. Maybe he could get her autograph for Naya before he and Darren went back home. Though he didn't exactly know how he and Darren would be going back home.

"You should sleep," said a voice and Chris was startled out of his thoughts to see the woman in white standing in his cell. He didn't question how she had gotten there. Not after what he had seen of her when she had shown herself to him and Darren earlier.

"I can't," he admitted. She inclined her head to the side and walked closer, reaching out a hand to rub at his forehead.

"Soon," she said. "Soon you will be at peace again. No more stress." He wasn't sure what she meant because he was always under some kind if stress. "Relax and sleep. Prince Charming is on his way to rescue you," she told him. And with a brush of a soft kiss to his forehead, Chris felt his eyes droop.

He had barely noticed her disappearing again before he drifted into a peaceful sleep.


	30. Chapter Twenty-six

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies that this didn't go up yesterday like I was intending. I was still piled in with what I spent the weekend doing and I'll have to go back to it. I have goals. Anyway, just a note, I'm pretty sure I burned myself out writing the next chapter every single day so I'm going to slow down a little bit. We should be in the homestretch of this story, unless my brain pulls out another plot twist.
> 
> Thanks to ChrisCalledMeSweetie! Sorry it didn't go up this morning like I told you I was shooting for but it's still here today! And thanks to everyone else for being patient with me for the first time since I started this adventure.
> 
> Comments and kudos make me smile. Enjoy!

Darren certainly had not been expecting to open the front door to three people standing on the doorstep. Santana and Sam and to his great surprise, Karofsky.

It was the early morning hours. Burt and Carole were still sleeping. After the phone call from Santana in the wee hours of the morning, he had gone down to the living room, feeling wide awake. He'd been pacing ever since. He was quite sure he had worn a dent in the floor even if he couldn't see one. The point was that he could feel it there. Or at least he thought he could.

Santana pushed passed him into the house, Sam following her with a nod of his head. Karofsky stood awkwardly on the doorstep, looking at the house like he was pretty sure that he wasn't welcome there. Santana finally rolled her eyes and pulled him in by the arm.

"Where's Berry?" she asked, looking around the house, keeping her voice quiet. She knew by the fact that Burt and Carole's car was in the driveway that they were both home right then.

"I kicked her out when I remembered that Burt and Carole were coming home," Darren said, voice just as quiet, shutting the door behind Karofsky who was now standing awkwardly in the entryway. It was clear he wasn't even sure he belonged there. He kept looking at the stairs, fearing that Burt was going to come down and start yelling at him or something.

It took all of a minute for Darren to realize just how uncomfortable he was in the situation and it was really strange. While Rachel had been a pain and refused to leave the house even knowing that Burt and Carole wouldn't want her there, Karofsky was pretty sure he'd be dead meat if Burt found him there and was anxiously staring at the door. If they were going to have his help, they should make him feel better.

"Let's take this to the Lima Bean," Darren suggested, thankful for his knowledge of Lima in the Gleeverse. All it took was for Santana and Sam to take one look at Karofsky before they were both nodding their heads in agreement. For the most part, all four of them had been up all night. They could certainly use the coffee.

Santana tried to hide her yawn as she handed over the keys to Darren. She'd pretty much been driving all night and well, she didn't really want to bother driving anymore if she could help it. Darren was okay with that.

The four of them moved back out the door and headed for the car, Karofsky seeming to relax with relief as they left the Hudmel house. Yeah, he certainly was not comfortable there and Darren didn't blame him. Look at the history he had concerning Kurt. He'd tried to kill him for crying out loud. But then there was the fact that Karofsky was acting in a way that he had never seen before, not even on the show. Scared and openly vulnerable. Not even the episode where he'd attempted to commit suicide saw him acting like this. Darren wondered if it was the effects of the amnesia.

But that couldn't be it. Karofsky only seemed to be incredibly tense when he was in the presence of the Hudmel home. Santana hadn't contacted him again between the first phone call, and returning to the Lima so he hadn't a clue what had happened or what had convinced a seemingly amnesiac Karofsky to come back with them so easily. He would need details on what had happened in Indiana. But for now, there were other things on his mind.

Things seemed to blur together as they got to the Lima Bean. None of them said anything going into the place. Of course , none of them had even thought about what they were doing. Bringing David Karofsky, a supposed murder victim into an establishment full of people that would obviously recognize him.

When Darren, Santana, and Sam entered the coffee shop, no one batted an eyelash. But the moment Karofsky walked through the door, every single person in the place stared and froze. The barista holding a coffee pot dropped the pot to the floor, smashing it and spilling coffee everywhere, mouth dropping open in shock.

Karofsky froze too, looking around at everyone in the place. It was clear his level of comfort was beginning to drop rapidly as everyone stared at him and people started to whisper behind their hands.

"Get him out of here," Darren whispered harshly to Santana who didn't need to be told twice. She and Sam grabbed David gently by the arms and started leading him out of the shop. Darren turned a hard eye on everyone else. "What the hell are you people looking at?" he spit out, a very non-Darren like outburst. "Didn't your parents ever teach you not to stare? Mind your business!" People quickly returned to what they were doing and the curly haired man whirled around on the staff. "And if you dare to call media about this, you won't be getting our service ever again." He turned and marched out of the shop.

Santana and Sam had gotten Karofsky back into the car where the young man had wrapped his arms around himself and was rocking back and forth.

"I'm sorry," he was saying. "I'm sorry. I didn't think of the impact coming back here would have on people who think I'm dead." He sounded distraught and like he was on the verge of hyperventilating or something.

The Latina was shaking her head. "I don't think any of us did," she said. Sam was also shaking his head and Darren felt himself begin to grow in guilt. Maybe they should have just brought the authorities to see Karofsky rather than tried to convince Karofsky to come see the authorities. As it was, the twenty-seven year old still didn't know why it had been so easy to get him back there.

Darren sighed and ran a hand over his curly hair. "Maybe we should have brought the authorities to you," he said quietly, voicing what he had just been thinking.

To his surprise, Karofsky shook his head. "There's no guarantee they would have given you the benefit of the doubt if you told them you knew where I was." Darren sighed again. Unfortunately, he was right. Authorities were used to people coming up with all kinds of false leads for things, if only to give themselves a shot at a reward that may have been available for a capture. There was no way they would easily agree to go to Indiana with a couple of college students on the whim that they would find a supposed murder victim alive and well.

It was quiet in the car then. Darren sat with his hands gripping the steering wheel. Santana was seated in the front passenger seat staring out the window. David was clutching himself in the backseat and Sam sat beside him looking utterly lost. None of them had any idea what they were going to do. They had to go to the authorities but they had to have a game plan. Just because they showed up with a living David Karofsky didn't mean Kurt would be released as easily as one two three.

But first, the twenty-seven year old decided he needed to know what exactly was going on. "Someone wanna tell me why you had an easy time of it?" he asked and Karofsky gave both Santana and Sam a look.

"I told him you had amnesia, remember?" Santana said to David.

"He was the one you were talking to on the phone?" Karofsky asked and Santana nodded her head. Something dawned on Darren then and he turned to look at her for a moment.

"You lied to me?" he asked with an eyebrow raised, surprised that Santana would even think to do something like that after all they had already been through in the past week. Karofsky looked just as surprised by this sudden turn of events.

The Latina sighed and shook her head. "No. When I told you that I honestly thought he did have amnesia," she told him seriously. And Darren knew she wasn't lying because Santana didn't mess around, especially with such serious matters. "It wasn't until after the phone call that we learned he didn't actually have it. Pascal told him if he ever came across anyone from his old life to pretend he had amnesia."

Darren was quiet for a moment. He gripped the wheel even tighter as he eyes narrowed. "He was trying to keep him from coming back to free Kurt," he said as realization struck him. "Think about it, his main reason for putting Kurt away was to keep a homosexual off the streets," he went on, the anger lacing his every word. That detective disgusted him to outer space, back, and beyond.

"No doubt he was not happy Kurt didn't get life," Santana noted, eyes still on the window.

Sam, who had been pretty much quiet until then chose that moment to speak up. "He was." The other three turned and looked at him. He sighed. "In with all his paperwork was a request for prison extension. I'm not sure if you can actually do that but he was determined to try." No one said anything so Sam went on. "Despite the fact that Kurt was charged with involuntary manslaughter, Pascal wanted to fight to get his sentence changed to either life in prison without the possibility of parole, or the death sentence."

Again, Darren's hands tightened on the steering wheel. "The hell they can give him the death sentence for involuntarily manslaughter," he spit out.

"Forget involuntary manslaughter," Santana said in a tone that suggested she was just as angry, if not more so. "I'm pretty sure he'd want him sentenced to death by lethal injection just for being a homosexual." Darren's nostrils flared.

"If I didn't know I'd get in serious trouble for it, I'd go to that prison right now and strangle the bastard!" he said. Well this was something. Darren was pissed and it certainly made him act completely not like Darren. For the moment, he was actually glad Chris was tucked away in a prison cell where he couldn't see Darren exploding over everything. It certainly couldn't be attractive.

On the other hand, sometimes being angry turned other people on. The curly haired man fought the blush off his cheeks as he thought about that. He didn't know if Chris was one of those people. He wasn't entirely sure he wanted to find out either.

It fell quiet again. Darren was brooding in front of the wheel. Santana was looking toward him with a sympathetic look that was so very unlike her. Karofsky and Sam sat in silence in the backseat. All of them were aware that this was hitting the twenty-seven year old very hard. He wasn't sure if he wanted to tell Chris all this. Tell him there was a detective who only wanted Kurt behind bars because he was gay. He knew his boyfriend wouldn't stand for that at all.

His boyfriend. Just the act of thinking of Chris in that manner was enough to bring a smile back to the curly haired man's face, even if it was a small one. A part of him wondered if this lesson was also to open his eyes to how much he honestly cared about the younger man. Well, if not, it was a nice little side thing to be grateful for. He loved Chris and Chris loved him and that was really all that mattered in the world.

With that thought in his mind, Darren turned the keys in the ignition and started the engine before pulling out of the parking space and turning back onto the road. He was heading in the opposite direction of back into the heart of Lima.

"Where are we going?" Santana asked him as Darren merged onto the highway.

"Columbus," he said simply, causing the Latina to give him a confused look.

"Why?" she asked.

Darren spared her a brief glance. "Because I highly doubt bringing Karosfky to the Lima Police Department is going to help much. I'm guessing the case would be filed in a bigger department, especially with Detective Pascal now incarcerated," he explained. Santana nodded her head and fell quiet.

In truth, the curly haired man was tired of waiting and he was done with all this. He wanted to just get Karofsky to the authorities and have Kurt freed and he knew the first thing he was going to do when Chris walked out of that prison a free man. He was going to grab him and kiss him senseless like he had been wanting to do for so long.

This was it, the final leg of everything he had set out to do. No more road blocks and detours. It was just the authorities, Karofsky, and Kurt's impending release. There was no way anything else could stop things now.

At least, he sure as hell hoped not.


	31. Chapter Twenty-Seven

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry this took so long guys! I've been buried in the stuff that kept me busy last weekend. So I haven't found the time to write for my fics. I apologize for the wait both on this one and on The Soul Connection, which shall hopefully have it's second chapter by the end of the weekend if not today. So be on the lookout for that.
> 
> Thanks to ChrisCalledMeSweetie who specifically requested this chapter be another Klaine chapter so you get that and some new information as realized by people other than those trying to solve the case! Thanks to all my readers and the new support for the new story. More on that when I update it. But you guys rock! Hope this was worth the wait!
> 
> Comments and kudos make me smile. Enjoy!

Kurt was restless. But that was nothing new. He continuously paced the warehouse floor, arms wrapped around himself protectively. Blaine watched him with worry in his eyes. He followed the older man as he moved back and forth across the warehouse floor.

Karofsky was alive. All this time Kurt could have been a free man but no. All because that idiot Pascal needed him off the streets for being homosexual. He had to wonder why the hell Karofsky had gone along with the man's schemes. Why hadn't he tried to find out what was happening with Kurt? Why hadn't he kept questioning until he knew answers? If he'd been that worried at the time, surely he would have done that, right?

Kurt didn't give a damn if Karofsky was willing to help now. Now didn't really matter much. Now wouldn't fix a damn thing. That was the long and short of it.

Now wouldn't change the fact that he had spent the last two years in prison. That was done and there was nothing that could ever give him those years of his life back. He was on the fence about whether or not to forgive Karofsky. He was on the fence about whether he was actually being sincere, even though Santana, Sam, and Darren seemed to believe him. But Karofsky wasn't that good an actor, was he?

"Kurt?" Blaine questioned carefully.

Kurt waved his hand. "Not now Blaine," he said, voice firm but gentle.

Blaine let out a soft sigh and stood from his spot once more against the wall. With the new information, he and Kurt had been up the entire night, watching the goings on. The half of the screen that showed what was going on with Darren had split again so they could view what was happening with Santana and Sam. Blaine hadn't questioned how. He was way passed batting an eyelash at the strange things that had been happening since he'd found himself here in the first place.

He moved slowly, crossing the room to where Kurt was still pacing. Without saying a word, he carefully wrapped his arms around the distraught pale man from behind and hugged him closer to him. Kurt seemed to relax into his embrace. A soft sigh fell from his lips and Blaine felt a hand snake up and wrap around his neck and Kurt settled back against him. He peppered soft kisses over the apple of the beautiful man's pale cheek.

"I'm sorry Blaine," Kurt whispered, maneuvering to turn around in the younger man's hold.

"What are you sorry for?" Blaine asked, pressing a lingering kiss to the other's forehead.

Kurt let out a soft sigh and rested his head against Blaine's for a moment. Blaine let him take his time, holding him close and providing the best comfort he possibly could.

"For being so tense and antsy about all this," he finally said. Blaine released one of his hands from Kurt's waist and moved to lift his chin up a little, encouraging Kurt's eyes to meet his as he focused his steady gaze on him.

"You listen to me Kurt," he said. "You have absolutely nothing to be sorry for. This is all one complicated mess and you're stuck at the heart of it because you're the very center of everything." Kurt sighed yet again. "You have every right to be tense and antsy. Honestly, if it were me in your position, I'm not sure I would be as put together as you still are right now."

A soft smile crossed Kurt's face at his words and he leaned forward pressing the chastest of kisses to Blaine's lips. "You kind of are in this position too honey," he whispered with a soft chuckle. But Blaine just shook his head.

"Not really. The situation is all about you. All I have to deal with is that Darren guy being me," he said.

An uncharacteristic snort left Kurt then. "He's not doing a very good job of it," he said with a shake of his head.

"How do you know?" Blaine replied, waggling his eyebrows. Kurt laughed and shoved him playfully. "Maybe I'm exactly like Darren is portraying. You just met me when I woke up on a non-lazy day." Kurt could tell he was joking but he shoved him again anyway. Blaine just laughed.

"Anyway, there's not really much point to him being you now is there?" Kurt asked then, reluctantly pulling out of Blaine's embrace and looking back at the screen where Darren, Santana, Sam, and Karofsky were still on the road to Columbus and Chris seemed to be merely picking at his breakfast.

Blaine shook his head. "Not when everyone he's with knows who he is. I mean with probably the exception of Santana for knowing about everything when this began, none of them ever really knew there was a Blaine Anderson."

It was then that something dawned on Kurt and he turned back to look at Blaine. "That's not true," he said. Blaine gave him a funny look. "Sure, because I never went to spy on the Warblers, we never met you officially, but that doesn't mean we didn't know you existed." Kurt resumed his previous pacing, tapping his chin a few times in his thought process. "We've competed against the Warblers a few times. I remember who you are now. You were their lead singer," he said.

Blaine went pink around the ears. "And you were in New Directions. I may be a little guilty at staring more at you than listening to you guys sing."

Kurt waved it off casually. "I never had a solo so there really was nothing worth listening to," he said. Had he said this back before all this mess had happened, before he'd been arrested, he might have meant it as a joke. But now, because he was never going to forgive Rachel Berry and mend their relationship, he was dead serious.

"Kurt?" Blaine questioned, noting the look on his face. The curly haired nineteen year old could tell there was more on the other's mind given the expression he now wore.

Kurt wrapped his arms around himself again. "You know, I never thought about it before but Rachel Berry really isn't anything special." He said. Blaine's eyes widened like saucers for a moment and Kurt went on. "I mean there are plenty of other girls just as talented as she is. What makes her the diamond in the rough? And after what happened when Mr. Schue tried to give a solo to Tina in the first year of New Directions, he never bothered to give anyone else a solo again," he went on.

Blaine shook his head. "Not true," he said and Kurt gave him a confused look. "Sectionals, the first time we competed against each other. Rachel had no solos and we all tied."

"Yeah and Rachel never let us forget it. She swore if she had been lead that competition, you guys would have only gotten second place," Kurt replied, thinking not so fondly of how Rachel had felt the need to rub it in every chance she got that the only reason the Warblers were good enough to tie for first place was because she hadn't had a solo. "Our resulting win at Regionals that year only boosted her belief that she'd been right," he went on.

"I think you won at Regionals because you took the risk of doing original songs," Blaine said. "Not because Rachel had a solo." Kurt was nodding his head.

"I agree but Rachel would never think so." He let out a frustrated sigh and Blaine moved to wrap him in his arms again.

"So what are you going to do?" the younger man asked gently.

"About what? Rachel?" Kurt asked, slightly confused.

Blaine shook his head. "No," he said. "About Karofsky." Kurt turned his eyes back on the screen and watched them driving in silence for a minute or two before he finally spoke again.

"Honestly?" he asked. "I don't know." Blaine gave his head a short nod. "I want to believe he really wants to help. But if that's so true, why didn't he try to sooner? Why did he just heed by what Pascal was saying and leave it be?"

Blaine watched them driving for a minute too, lost in thought. He was trying to come up with a plausible answer for Kurt. He turned over all the information of what he knew in his head. Pascal wanted to keep Karofsky from coming back and he had also meant to try and get Kurt's sentence changed to life at the very least. Karofsky apparently hadn't known about Pascal's subsequent badge revoking and incarceration. He studied the former bully's face for a moment, trying to read him.

"Because I think there's one more thing about the situation he forgot to tell anyone," he said quietly and Kurt looked at him. "Summing up all of his behavior since the arrival of Santana and Sam at his house in Indiana, I think there's something else that has him scared stiff."

Kurt was quiet for several moments. It was a given that there would be some things that Karofsky may very well have been uncomfortable with. But the boy he had known would have flat out voiced his issues. This man had merely stood around quietly looking incredibly fearful, vulnerable, and clearly uncomfortable. Something else was up. Otherwise, why would he have been so terrified?

On the other hand, if there was something about being in Lima that was scaring him so badly, why had he so easily agreed to come back and help? Okay, so maybe he really did want to redeem himself but even that wouldn't have been enough for him to risk coming back. Unless there was something that changed and made him feel safer about returning while at the same time, still positively terrified of that thing, whatever it possibly was.

His thoughts turned to Pascal and all he knew about the detective. Or former detective now anyway. He was a vile man. Showed Kurt absolutely zero kindness. He had even less qualms about openly showing his disgust than Karofsky did. But the difference between Pascal and Karofsky was that the latter bullied Kurt because he was afraid of his own sexuality. Pascal just flat out despised homosexuals.

Kurt really didn't want to remember the awful things that man had said about him during the trial. He was almost convinced that the jury were probably just a bunch of homophobes and rather than actually listening to the case and judging him on what he had done - or not done as it had now been revealed - they had just made their decision based on all the slaying banter Pascal had spewed on the witness stand. He wouldn't put it passed them.

He narrowed his eyes slightly as he continued to stare at Karofsky on the screen. "I think Pascal threatened him," he finally said. Blaine looked at him for a moment and Kurt went on. "I wouldn't put it passed Pascal to threaten Karofsky into staying quiet. That man is the most vile excuse for a human being I have ever had the pleasure of being in the same room with. I won't go into all the nasty things he said about me in court, but despite saying he wanted to help, Karofsky has been positively terrified the whole time he's been in Lima." Blaine was furrowing his brow in thought.

"So you think that Pascal threatened something if he ever came back?" Blaine asked.

Kurt nodded his head. "And the only reason he actually agreed to come back not including wanting to help me if he was sincere about that, is because now knowing that Pascal is behind bars, he felt safe enough to." He bit his lip for a brief moment. "But I think he also knows what Pascal is capable of and if the detective finds out about Karofsky being back in Lima, I wouldn't put it passed him to carry out the threat even from behind bars. He has connections."

"And that would explain why Karofsky is still so terrified of being back," Blaine finished for him. Kurt nodded his head.

"Exactly," he said. "I just wish he would tell Darren, Santana, and Sam. That could potentially put a heavier case on Pascal and keep him behind bars, threatening an eyewitness, along with keeping people from contact with said eyewitness," he added.

"And Karofsky is technically the key eyewitness to the case," Blaine said. "He is the supposed murder victim." Again, Kurt nodded. Both of them fell quiet as they continued to watch the screens.

Darren, Santana, Sam, and Karofsky had just arrived in Columbus. With any luck, Kurt's possible release may be just hours away and then, he would finally regain his freedom.


	32. Chapter Twenty-Eight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a little on the short side. There's a POV change at the end. But I do deliver it to you all with the facts that Chris doesn't mind people drawing him naked, his favorite curse word is shit, and he is very flattered by Klaine fan fiction. So take that charming information how you will! We're getting closer to the end I believe. And Rachel's getting what she deserves I think. ;)
> 
> Thanks to ChrisCalledMeSweetie for continued encouragement and being a great friend. And thanks to all my readers who've stuck with me on this fic. And for those of you waiting for the next chapter of The Soul Connection I hope to get that out soon.
> 
> Comments and kudos make me smile. Enjoy!

Darren was done waiting. He was done being thrown down one path only to go so far before having to turn down another path instead. He just wanted Chris free. He wanted to kiss him. He wanted to take him home and make love to him. That thought caused a brief blush to cross his face but not as much as the thought that succeeded it.

Yes Darren wanted to kiss Chris. And he wanted to make love to Chris. And he wanted to tell him a million times over how much he loved him and shower him with cheesy compliments and endearments. But there was one thing that Darren realized he wanted even more than all of that. And this thing was perhaps prompted by that little vision the other day.

More than anything else, he wanted to marry him.

The twenty-seven year old shifted awkwardly in his seat as he pulled the car into the parking lot of the Columbus police station. Santana side-eyed him curiously, wondering what had suddenly got him all twitchy and nervous.

In the backseat, Karofsky was wringing his hands in an uncharacteristically nervous fashion. Sam was quiet.

Darren had just parked and cut the engine when Karofsky spoke up, perhaps the first words anyone had spoken since they had first gotten on the highway.

"I have a confession to make," he said, voice betraying the sudden nervousness. Santana and Darren glanced at each other before turning around in their seats. Sam turned his head to look at him. When it became clear he was not going to receive vocal acknowledgement, Karofsky swallowed thickly and went on. "Pascal threatened me," he said quietly.

It was quiet for a moment. Again, Darren and Santana glanced at each other but neither looked surprised. Given what they knew about the detective it seemed that blackmail would be right up his alley. Blackmail, threats, same difference really.

"Is that why you didn't come back sooner?" Sam asked, speaking the question in a much kinder manner than Santana might have voiced it but he knew it was what they were all thinking.

Instead of replying, David merely nodded his head and looked down at his lap. He was still wringing his hands and beads of sweat were perspiring down his temples. The other three decided not to question the matter further though they were all burning to know the nature of the threat. Darren couldn't deny though that if they mentioned that to the cops inside the station, they would likely ask David for specifics.

Sighing, the curly haired man nodded his head before proceeding to get out of the car. Santana followed with Sam and Karofsky doing the same. The doors all shut with a slam that seemed to echo around the parking lot.

"Right," Darren started. "Santana and I will take the lead. Sam, you and David wait out here for now. We'll come get you." Sam nodded and Karofsky said nothing but he looked silently grateful for the fact that he did not have to walk in there unannounced.

With a deep breath, Darren turned and started walking for the front doors of the station. Santana fell into step beside him.

"Scared?" she asked.

"Shitless," Darren replied. Fuck channeling Blaine, who he knew would have replied with 'terrified' but Darren didn't have to be Blaine right now. And he was a self-proclaimed potty-mouth. Darren had said he tended to curse like a sailor. One of the many things he supposed made Blaine so different from himself.

Santana didn't reply. Instead, she merely nodded her head and grabbed for his hand. He was surprised by the action knowing that it was not something that Santana would characteristically carry out.

Just as he was reaching for the door handle, the cell phone in his pocket began to ring and Santana looked at him for a moment.

"It's the prison's number," he said curiously as he pulled the phone out. He was frowning at it because he didn't remember ever giving them Blaine's cell phone number. Come to think of it, he didn't even know Blaine's cell phone number.

"Answer it," Santana said simply because they both knew it could be important. Darren glanced over at Sam and Karofsky who were still standing by the car before hitting the accept button on the phone and bringing it to his ear.

"Hello?" he said, dreading whatever it was they were calling about.

"Blaine Anderson?" came the questioning voice on the other end of the line. Darren furrowed his brow and looked right at Santana.

"Speaking," he said.

"This is Officer Benson from the Ohio State Correctional Facility. I'm afraid there's been an incident," was the response.

Darren audibly swallowed. "Is—Is Kurt okay?" he asked in a quiet voice.

"He should be fine. He's got quite the mark on his throat though," said Officer Benson.

Darren could feel his insides burning. He knew exactly what that meant. Someone had attempted to choke Chris. But why? Why would anyone do such a thing? And as far as he was concerned, the most anyone seemed to want to do to Kurt was pound his tight little ass from behind.

He licked his lips and shut his eyes, willing himself to remain calm. "What happened?" he finally asked. To his credit Officer Benson seemed to be very patient which kind of surprised Darren a little. Most prison staff couldn't stand the prisoners or care less about them.

"He had a visitor. She claimed she was a friend," the officer said. "If we had known she was a threat," he went on but Darren cut him off.

"She?" he asked, suddenly sounding both suspicious and a slight bit angry. "This she didn't happen to be a petite brunette, did she?" His eyes were focused on Santana and he could see her eyes glassing over with anger as they narrowed into slits.

"You know her?" the officer said and that was enough to confirm Darren's suspicions.

"Yeah. What have you done with her?" he asked, voice now void of emotion. Like hell was he going to let Rachel Berry get away with attacking Chris. What the hell did that little bitch think she was doing?

He did find it a little concerning that he hadn't heard from her after he'd kicked her out but he hadn't expected her to be angry enough to do something like this. Officer Benson was speaking again and Darren refocused on the conversation.

"We have her under arrest and confined," he said. Darren nodded his head.

"Good," he replied. "Keep her like that. I want to press charges for assault on Kurt's behalf," he went on. "Nobody assaults my boyfriend and gets away with it." Santana's eyes went wide as saucers.

"We will need Kurt to make an official claim to press charges but in the meantime, we will abide by your wishes," the officer told him.

"Thank you," Darren said, mostly because he didn't know what else to say. He didn't think it would be too difficult to convince Chris to press charges on Rachel. This was Chris he was talking about. Kurt, regardless of whether he intended to ever forgive Rachel or not would be much harder to convince because of his beliefs and not taking things to the justice system.

Officer Benson merely gave him his acknowledgement of the thank you and hung up the phone, leaving Darren both pissed and highly confused.

Rachel had wanted to help. Well, she said she did anyway. She claimed she did. She also was sure that Kurt would still wanna be her friend. But everyone thought the chances of that were very low. Darren had thought maybe Lea had gotten through to her but apparently she hadn't and he couldn't even begin to piece together the puzzle that was Rachel's mind. What the hell had she really been thinking all this time?

The only thing the could think of was that Rachel had some reason to want to get rid of Kurt. Whether it was more than just keeping her reputation intact, he wasn't sure. But if Rachel wanted that reputation to stay intact, assaulting a prisoner in an Ohio prison and getting herself arrested was not the way to do it.

The fact that it had happened at all was enough to tell Darren they still had Chris on private in person visitations. Something he still hadn't figured out the reason for. It wasn't like they were left alone in the visiting room.

"What happened?" Santana asked, pulling the curly haired man from his musings. Darren wrapped his hand tighter around the phone he was still holding, clutching it for dear life it felt like.

"Rachel paid Chris a visit apparently," he told her. The Latina's eyes narrowed even more so. Almost enough to where they appeared to barely be open. "She tried to strangle him."

"That bitch!" Santana spit out. "When I get my hands on her—" She was cut off by the hand Darren placed on her shoulder, suddenly falling quiet.

"It's being taken care of," he said before nodding his head toward the doors to the police station. "I'm so over all this bullshit," he went on. "Shall we?"

"Let's end this," Santana confirmed and the two of them turned and headed into the station.

* * *

Chris was curled up in a ball on the bed in the infirmary staring at the wall. His throat hurt something awful but it was more his sense of self that was bruised.

Rachel had tried to kill him. Rachel _Berry_ had tried to kill him. He doubted Darren had actually sent her there like she had initially claimed. She'd been lying and he didn't know why. Just like he didn't know what Darren was doing right then. He hadn't heard from him in a bit. But that wasn't the point.

Angry red marks bruised his throat where her hands had firmly wrapped around it. For the first time, Chris was glad that the guards were watching through the two-way mirror. They had managed to stop her before she had sufficiently crushed his windpipe. Chris was injured and he couldn't speak or breathe very well at the moment, but he was okay and he was expected to recover.

The only good thing that came out of this was that he was now in a much more comfortable bed. He wondered why the infirmary was more comfortable than the prison cell he was subjected to. But there were more pressing things on his mind.

He wanted out. He needed to get out of the prison as soon as possible because he couldn't handle this anymore. And the moment he was able to go home and throw himself into Darren's arms, never to let go seemed to be drifting far into the crevices of his dreams. But if he went home, what would happen to Kurt?

Sure Rachel was currently under lock and key for the assault but there was no guarantee that she would stay there. And Chris would be lying if he said he wasn't worried about how she might take things out on Kurt when she saw him again. If she was released, Kurt could get a restraining order. Chris wanted to tell him that but that would require them actually meeting face to face and what were the chances of that happening?

Chris curled up tighter, fighting the tears that were brimming in his eyes. He really didn't want to cry right then. He didn't know who he would cry for and the sound would hurt his injured throat, not to mention the pressure it would put on his already limited ability to breathe.

Instead, he continued to attempt drawing deep slow breaths, just like the prison physician had suggested. It would help his breathing become easier again as his injuries healed to open up his airway once more.

He couldn't believe he had almost been killed. Why was Rachel suddenly so determined to see Kurt dead? Perhaps they would never get answers but Chris really didn't care. As long as Rachel was kept from Kurt in the long run, that would be all that mattered.

So he shoved those thoughts out of his head, thinking only of Darren and the light at the end of the tunnel. The light that would be shown to him the moment that he had his freedom. The moment that Kurt had his freedom too. Chris would physically be free but when Kurt came back, he would not have to return to prison. He could enjoy his life.

So now, there was only one thing to do. Pray that whatever Darren was doing, he succeeded in it.


	33. Chapter Twenty-nine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we go guys! Thank you for being so patient with me and sorry I burned myself out and writing daily updates. But this story is nearing it's end and guess what? I had a brain wave while writing this chapter about how I'm going to end it. Any guesses how? ;) I'd give you a hint but the only one I have would probably tell you exactly what the plan is. So I will leave you in suspense.
> 
> As always, thanks to ChrisCalledMeSweetie and if you haven't read anything by her yet, you need to go read her stuff now. It's great. :) And thanks to all my readers still with me. Again, so sorry for slowing down on updates. I'm just one of those people who actually writes the next chapter before updating so I don't have anything predone for this fic. Also because I'm restricted to the notepad app on my iPhone, it slows my writing down. Thumb touch keyboard, yay! *sarcasm* My dad is hoping to eventually get me a blue tooth external keyboard for it though. So that should help.
> 
> Comments and kudos make me smile. Enjoy!

"Hummel!" Chris turned over carefully in the infirmary bed. The shout was loud enough to rouse him from a sleep he hadn't realized he had fallen into. For a moment he was slightly disoriented, having no recollection of where he was. But then he remembered everything and exactly why he was being called Hummel.

He blinked several times, glancing at the set of guards that were standing there. One of them held keys and the other held a set of folded clothes. Non-prison issued clothes. _Real clothes_.

Chris was slightly confused. He slowly sat up, swinging his legs over the side of the bed and rubbing his eyes. His throat was still throbbing weakly but the pain had nearly subsided completely. However, he knew that the angry red mark was going to be present for quite some time.

"Change your clothes," the same guard said and the other one tossed him the neatly folded clothing. "When you're done, meet us in the hall." Both guards left the infirmary with a click of the barred door.

To say Chris was suddenly very confused was an understatement. He looked down at the folded clothes in his hands. He recognized the outfit immediately. It was one of Kurt's season three ensembles. Chris almost couldn't believe it as he ran a hand over the fabric of the clothes. Did this mean what he thought it did? But the question now was how? He hadn't heard from Darren anytime recently.

Not wanting to possibly give the guards a chance to change their minds, Chris stripped out of the prison uniform and into Kurt's clothes which fit him just as impeccably as the costuming outfits for the show. He had never been so happy to put on Kurt's tight pants before in his life.

He moved to the barred door where he could see the guards standing outside, speaking in hushed tones. Chris didn't have any idea what they were talking about but he decided not to intrude on it whatever it was. Instead, he cleared his throat and the two guards turned around, unlocking the infirmary door so that he could walk out into the hall.

One of the guards noticeably ran his eyes up and down Chris' figure, causing the pale man to feel slightly self-conscious.

"No wonder Big Henry wanted to get his hands on you," the guard said, licking his lips. Chris folded his arms across his chest and narrowed his eyes. Really? This was what he had to greet him?

"Taken," he said shortly. The guard appeared taken aback and for a moment, Chris was quite sure that he would be beaten for that comment. Isn't that what they did to prisoners who talked back? But he wasn't even sure he was a prisoner anymore. Prisoners were not allowed to wear their own clothes for any reason.

The other guard cleared his throat and the one who had been checking Chris out had the decency to look sheepish. "Let's go," the guard who had cleared his throat said and turned to begin walking down the hall.

The twenty-three year old was slightly concerned about the lack of handcuffs being slapped on his wrists. He hesitated only a moment before he followed the two guards, the perverted one purposely keeping his eyes in front of him as they walked.

They passed through the regular cell block and came to a halt. The guard leading the way signaled for them to wait and Chris watched him climb the stairs, noting his destination was Chris' cell. Or Kurt's cell rather. He was left standing with the perverted guard, a fact he was really not all that comfortable with.

Choosing to try and keep his mind off the perverted guard beside him, the pale man let his eyes wander around the prison. He could see the inmates all had their eyes on him. Some of them were whispering with their cell mates. And for the first time, he really took in the layout. He was surprised to see that the cell block hall was co-ed, with each hallway branch being occupied with one gender or the other.

The sound of a gate clanging open caught his attention and he turned his eyes to the other side of the cell block, the path he had never been lead down before. Two guards were passing through. They each clutched the arm of a person newly dressed in a prison issue uniform, wrists cuffed tightly together. But even with sight of the hanging head, Chris could recognize her anywhere.

It was Rachel.

As she was being lead to a cell on the second floor of one of the halls, Chris found he could not take his eyes from her. As if she sensed him staring, she lifted her head and looked right at him as they passed by. She looked him dead in the eye and Chris had never seen her look so defeated. Her face was stiff from tear tracks and her eyes were red and puffy. It almost made him want to pity her. _Almost_. Instead, he swallowed and forced his eyes away from her.

"Going to press charges?" came the voice of the perverted guard and Chris whipped his head around to look at him.

"I'm sorry, what?" he asked.

The guard chuckled lightly and looked toward where Rachel and the two guards had disappeared. "They're going to ask if you want to press charges," he replied simply with a shrug.

Chris wasn't exactly sure why they even cared whether a prisoner wanted to press charges.

"Can a prisoner do that?" he asked carefully.

The guard shrugged. "Sure. But you're not a prisoner anymore," he replied simply.

And there they were, the words Chris had so been hoping to hear ever since he had found himself in this prison and found out the truth about what was going on in this reality. He knew the real Kurt, wherever he was, would certainly celebrate this fact.

And he was right. In a warehouse somewhere outside Ohio, the moment the words had fallen from the guard's lips, Kurt had squealed and he was currently shoving his tongue down Blaine's throat. Oh yes, he was going to celebrate.

The one difference between Chris and Kurt was that Kurt knew exactly how he had been freed. He hadn't however known how Darren, Sam, and Santana had faired at the police station. After Darren had received the phone call about the attack, the screen had cut his side of things out completely. So all Kurt and Blaine were allowed to watch from that point forth was what was happening with Chris.

At that moment, the other guard came back down. He had the basket of supplies from Santana and it had all of Kurt's belongings in it. He handed the basket to Chris and the man nodded his thanks.

They started walking again, toward the entrance to the cell block that Rachel and the two other guards had entered through. There was a new pop to his step. He was free. Kurt was free. Two years of hell were over. They had done it. Or Darren had done it. He had freed Kurt from prison.

Despite his happiness, the walk out toward the lobby of the prison seemed like the longest walk he had ever taken in his life. They were stopped at the front office where a third guard handed Chris Kurt's wallet, car keys, cell phone and a broach he must have been wearing when he was arrested. The pale man was quite surprised there were so few things that had been turned over upon incarceration. Clearly, Kurt didn't actually carry a lot on his person.

And then, the gate was open. The gate to the lobby was open and Chris saw the most beautiful sight he had ever seen in his life. Darren stood in the lobby. He was accompanied by Santana and Sam. The pale man didn't wait another moment. He dropped the basket, ran forward, and threw himself into Darren's arms. The curly haired man held him so tightly it was as though he was afraid if he let go, Chris would evaporate into thin air.

"You did it. You freed him," Chris choked out, burrowing his nose into Darren's neck and inhaling. God how he missed that smell.

"I did." Darren sounded just as choked as Chris did. When he finally pulled away, he looked first at Santana.

"Hi," he said, holding a hand out. "I'm Chris Colfer." To his surprise, she laughed lightly and took his hand to shake.

"I know who you are Porcelain 2.0," she replied with a wink and God, Chris didn't think he would mind if he had Santana as a friend but that wasn't likely to happen. He and Darren had to go back to their own reality.

Right. Their own reality. Now that Darren had freed Kurt, what happened next? Would they just vanish and return to their own reality? Or were there loose ends that would need to be tied up first? Chris wasn't entirely sure what was going to happen but he realized that despite spending the whole visit in prison, he was going to miss this reality where their characters were real.

He withdrew his hand and turned to offer it to Sam who gripped it with a grin and gave him a bro hug. But what else could he expect from Sam? He had always been one of those really likable guys.

Moving to enlace his fingers with Darren's, Chris pecked the curly haired man on the cheek. "So, are you going to tell me how you did it?" he asked.

Darren smiled at him and pressed a kiss to his forehead. They were teasing each other he knew. Both of them really wanted to kiss desperately but they couldn't yet. The timing had to be just right. Darren refrained from just grabbing the beautiful man and kissing him senseless right there in the lobby of the Ohio State Correctional Facility.

"I'll explain everything Chris," he replied. "But all you need to know for now was that it turned out, Karofsky survived that night," he went on. Chris' eyes went wide as saucers. "We had a tape that proved Kurt's innocence and that he acted in self-defense but when we went to the station to hand it in, they told us it would be irrelevant because the detective on the case had claimed after Kurt was put away that Karofsky was alive and well."

"And it turned out Trouty Mouth here," Santana put in. "Was Detective Pascal's nephew."

Chris was stunned by what he was hearing. No doubt this was going to be all over the media.

"After he was incarcerated," Sam started and when Chris gave him a surprised look, he clarified. "My uncle was incarcerated for withholding evidence. His badge was revoked. Anyway, I searched his study and I found some paperwork that said where Karofsky was staying."

"Where was he?" Chris asked then.

"Indiana," Darren replied. "Santana and Sam drove out to retrieve him. He came willingly."

This surprised Chris quite a bit. "So than, where is he now?" he asked.

"Back at the Columbus Police Department," Sam said. "He's telling police everything about what happened after Pascal visited him in the hospital."

"Not to mention giving them a statement about the threat Pascal made to him," Santana threw in.

Even though Darren had said he would explain in a manner that suggested he would explain later, he pretty much had short nipped everything with Santana and Sam's help. But what had happened at the police station, yeah, that he would get into later. His head was still kind of shaken. At the time he'd been both determined and furious. Furious because of the attack Rachel had made on Chris.

Speaking of that attack, the curly haired man sadly reached up a hand to run his fingers over the bruising on his beloved's neck and the look in his eyes broke Chris' heart. He grabbed Darren's hand and pressed a soft kiss into the palm.

"I'm okay Dare," he whispered.

"But what if you hadn't been?" Darren replied and the ache in his voice made Chris want to cry. He clutched both of the older man's hands tighter and just looked at him.

"I wouldn't do that to you Darren. Never," he whispered and pulled the older man in for another hug. The two of them clung to each other. The realization that they could have possibly been permanently torn apart was too much for either of them to bear.

"We have to get back to the station," Santana said awkwardly a few moments later and it was then that Chris realized they were all still in the lobby of the prison and he just really wanted to leave the place.

"Why are we going to the station?" Chris asked as he and Darren pulled apart and Chris went to retrieve the basket he had dropped at the gate. After which, the four of them headed out of the lobby and the pale man had never been so happy to see the outside world before in his life. Well, outside world that wasn't the prison recreation yard anyway.

Darren drew a tight breath. "They want to know if you'll press charges against Rachel and if so, they want you to give a statement," he replied.

Chris had every intension of pressing charges against Rachel for what she had done but then he realized something. Pressing charges meant they would go to trial. And if they went to trial, he would need to be a witness. Well, Kurt would since they thought Kurt was the one she attacked. There was really nothing wrong with that but Chris didn't know if Kurt knew anything that had gone on here since he had taken his place. So if Chris was gone before the trial, there was no way of knowing if Kurt could suffice as a good witness and Rachel could be released. Also, if Chris was gone before that, there was no way of knowing whether the trial would be held right away or long enough in the future for the bruises to heal. If it was too soon, the lack of bruising on Kurt's neck would throw everything and Rachel could still be released, even under testimony of guards who saw it happen. Without evidence…

But there was a way to fix that. Chris could allow them to take pictures of his neck and they could be supplied for the jury. Also, he had a feeling the lady in white would fix the Kurt not knowing issue.

"I'm pressing charges," he said finally as the four of them stopped at the rental car. Darren nodded his head.

"Good. I thought you would think that way," he said. The doors were unlocked and the four of them climbed into the car. Darren in the driver's seat, Chris in the front passenger seat, and Santana and Sam in the backseat.

Darren splayed one hand up on the center console and Chris moved to link their hands together, lacing their fingers with one another. With an exchange of soft smiles, Darren started the car and pulled out of the prison parking lot for probably the last time.


	34. Chapter Thirty

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we go guys! This is the last official chapter but there will be an epilogue so be on the lookout for that. I was going to split this into two chapters but the first part was way too short to stand on its own in my opinion so guess what? You don't have to deal with another cliffhanger. :P
> 
> I want to take this time to give all my thanks to ChrisCalledMeSweetie because really without her support and devotion to this fic, I likely never would have made it this far. She was the one who prompted it and kept encouraging me to continue to write it. So thanks for that. And thanks to all my other readers for doing the same. It's you guys and your love of the fic that I'm writing that keep me writing more to it. I really can't do it without you. I know I have a real major issue with leaving fics up in the air, both original and fan fiction and it's something I'm trying to work on. One of my issues is that I get ideas like nobody's business and the problem there is that they will not stop nagging at me until I write at least part of them down. So that's why I have so many WIPs.
> 
> This is getting long. Finally, I want to say that I may or may not be a little slower with getting the epilogue up and the next chapter of The Soul Connection done as well. I have been given an ongoing opportunity for something that I have to devote a lot of my writing time to right now so I appreciate your patience with me. Thanks guys!
> 
> Last chapter! Look out for the epilogue and let me know if this is what you were expecting or if I totally threw another curve ball out of left field at you. Thank you all for making this journey so enjoyable.
> 
> Comments and kudos make me smile. Enjoy!

It seemed like it had been ages since either of them had seen their own beds. In retrospect, it had only been about a week but that wasn't the point. Darren would be lying if he said he wasn't ready to get out of here. He would also be lying if he said he would forgive the lady in white for what she had done to him and to Chris for that matter.

When Chris had been freed and the two of them had not just vanished and gone home straight away, Darren was a little disappointed. What else did they have to do? His thoughts were now beginning to wonder if they actually would have to locate the real Kurt and Blaine and bring them back but he didn't think that was the case.

No, the most logical answer was that they would have to tie up loose ends and then, maybe go to sleep or something. They'd both been sleeping when they had been brought here so it would only make sense that they would have to be sleeping in order to go back.

If he had his way, Darren would immediately go to sleep right then and there but he doubted that was how it worked. There were still loose ends they had to at least begin tying up before they started their lives together and…

Shit. Mia. Darren hadn't even thought about his girlfriend once since he had been here. He'd pretty much forgotten all about her. Not to mention started a relationship with Chris. Oh dear God, what was he going to do about this situation now?

The idea that when they did get back he was going to have to tell Mia that he didn't love her and he loved someone else was a very brutal thought. He didn't think he could handle it. Maybe he could do it the easy way, by kissing Chris right in front of her and having her break things off with him.

But Darren knew he wouldn't do that. He knew he couldn't do that and now that he had reminded himself of his girlfriend, his mind was elsewhere.

It was with a sort of far away look on his face that Darren parked the car once more at the police station. He killed the engine and just sat there staring out the front window, wondering what he was going to do about this issue.

"Dare?" Chris asked and Darren detected the very sure concern in his voice. He licked his lips and gripped the steering wheel with both hands.

"Mia," was all he said. But that was all that was needed. Realization dawned on Chris and the pale man sat back in his seat, hands running up into his hair.

"I plum forgot you were still together," he said, running a hand over his face.

"So did I," Darren admitted guiltily, hands still gripping the steering wheel.

Santana was glancing between them with a raised eyebrow. "Okay, would one of you kindly tell me who the hell Mia is?" she finally said. Sam nodded his head in agreement from his spot beside her. He was looking adorably confused by the entire situation.

Darren let out a sigh and finally pulled his gaze from the front window. "She's my girlfriend," he admitted.

"Let me get this straight," Santana started. "You are in love with Chris and desperately wanted to free him so you could run off and have sex on some dewy meadow somewhere but the entire time you've been dating a girl?" she went on. And there was traditional Santana. This was certainly why everyone loved her, weirdly enough.

"That about sums it up, yeah," Darren said, not bothering to correct her about the sex stuff because he really did want to have sex with Chris but that wasn't the important thing right now.

"Wanky," was all the Latina said in reply.

Sam shook his head. "You need to tell her Darren," he said. Chris raised his own head to meet Sam's eyes in the rearview mirror.

"Just like you need to come clean to Mercedes about how you feel about her," he said with a slight smirk on his face. Sam blushed darkly and ducked his head.

"How do you know about that?" he asked. Chris raised an eyebrow.

"I'm a star of the TV show created your life. Do you really have to ask?" he said. Sam blushed again.

"Okay well that statement isn't going to tell itself," Santana said. She punctuated her words by opening the car door and climbing out. With a sigh, the rest of them followed her lead.

Chris slipped his hand into Darren's as the older man came around the front of the car. He gave him a reassuring smile and a gentle squeeze. Darren pressed a kiss to his cheek. Chris flushed slightly at the sweetness of the action. Both of them really just wanted to kiss each other but there was a time and a place for that and now wasn't it.

Like a collective brigade the four of them approached the front door. They knew they were expected. None of them spoke a word as Santana reached out a hand and pulled the door to the building open. She actually stood back to allow the other three to enter first.

The officer at the front desk looked up. "You're expected," he said with a nod. "Hello Mr. Hummel. Good to see you out of prison." Chris gave his head a resolute nod. Right, he didn't know that he wasn't Kurt. The officer picked up a phone on the desk and put in a short call to let the detective in charge of the case know they were back. "Detective Walton will be with you shortly," he said after he'd hung up.

"Thank you," Darren said. The four of them took a seat to wait and he let his mind wander once more to how they were going to get back to their reality. His eyes glanced around the Columbus police station, taking in every detail because he probably would never be here again.

Detective Walton was not who they had initially talked to but the case must have been passed to them when it came to Karofsky telling everything. So they didn't have a clue what kind of person Detective Walton was.

Therefore, when the man finally came out to greet them, it took all of both Chris and Darren's resolve not to just blurt out a name on the spot. There was no doubt in either actor's mind. It was Ryan Murphy.

"Pleasure to meet you," Detective Walton - or Ryan - said as he put a smile on his face and extended a hand to offer them all a shake. Chris and Darren glanced at each other. It was clear that he didn't have any semblance of who they were. But then everyone was a completely different person in this reality.

"Pleasure to meet you too, Detective," Chris managed to say and all Darren could do was nod his head in agreement.

"I'll show you to my office," Detective Walton said as he began leading them back. "Have you decided what you are going to do about the attack Kurt?" he asked as they walked through the office.

"Yes," Chris said, giving his head a short nod.

"And?" Detective Walton pressed.

"And I'd like to press charges," Chris said just as they reached the door to the detective's office.

And that was when it happened.

Something, no one ever figured out what, came flying out of nowhere and smashed Darren in the back of the head, knocking him to the ground. Disorientation began to flood in as his consciousness swam in front of him, lingering on a small thread just beyond his reach. And he remembered thinking one thing. How? How could something fly out of nowhere and just hit him in the back of the head in a police station of all places? That wasn't realistic. But Glee had never really been realistic.

Voices were floating in and out of his ears. Someone, probably Chris, had pulled his head into their lap and was stroking his hair, murmuring his name and something that sounded suspiciously like, "Stay with me." But Darren was fading fast and the lap his head was on was so comfortable he felt like he could just sleep.

He barely managed to stay conscious a few more seconds but the last thing he heard sounded like his name. _His_ name, not his character's name as everyone else had been calling him.

"Darren! Wake up man!"

Was that Joey?

* * *

"Darren come on man! Snap out of it!" Joey's voice rang loud and clear as a bell suddenly as the curly haired man became more aware of his surroundings.

Slowly, he blinked his eyes open. Joey was staring down at him with a wild look on his face and a hand firmly on Darren's shoulder. A glance around the room told him he was lying in his own bed, in the apartment he and Joey shared. All the blankets had been kicked to the floor and his pillows were haphazardly scattered across the mattress, one having fallen to the floor.

"What happened?" he groaned, running a hand over his face. But he still couldn't help but to think this couldn't be right. "What hit me in the head? Did I miss Chris making his statement?"

Whatever Joey had been expecting it certainly wasn't that. "Darren, what the hell are you on about?" he asked. "You haven't been hit in the head. You came home and decided to take a nap, remember?"

Darren's eyes snapped to full alertness as he shot up straight in the bed. His cell phone was lying on the nightstand and he quickly snatched it up to look at it.

It was Saturday. As in the very same Saturday that had started all this weird shit. What the hell had happened? Had he even lived through it?

"That must have been some dream you were having man. You were throwing a fit and like, I couldn't wake you up. I've been trying to for at least an hour," Joey said then and Darren looked at him.

A dream. The whole thing had been a dream. But how? It had felt so real and it was seemingly so vivid and he had actually felt everything. It was like he really was there. And suddenly, he felt like he was Dorothy. The only thing he had to do now was to look around at everyone and say, "And you and you and you were there." The only issue with that was that Joey hadn't been there and he was the only one in the room.

"Are you okay Darren?" Joey asked slowly. Darren sighed and gave his head a nod. He would be at least.

"Yeah," he said quietly, mind still reeling with the fact that it had all been a dream. And just, how was that even possible?

"Good," Joey said. "Because Mia's waiting for you in the living room." He raised his eyebrows suggestively and jumped from Darren's bed to hurry out of the room.

Right Mia. He was still with Mia. He was still with Mia and he hadn't confessed his love for Chris yet. Oh God, if that was really all a dream, Chris was still mad at him now. He had to set this right. And he was going to start by breaking things off with Mia.

Darren pulled on his pants and shirt again, deciding that he had no reason not care about whether he was dressed or not if he was going to be breaking up with Mia. He ran a hand through his disheveled hair, thinking that he should probably at least touch it up but choosing not to. If he was being honest, he kind of wanted Chris to see him with his hair all disheveled later. So he left it as it was.

"Mia," he said, coming into the living room and finding her sitting on the couch waiting for him. She looked up.

"We need to talk," they both said at the same time and Darren stared at her for a moment, stunned. Everyone knew what those four words meant in a relationship. Was she really about to do the same thing to him that he was going to do to her?

An awkward silence filled the room, something that surprised Joey as he passed through on his way to the kitchen. He stopped and stared at them for a minute because he was sure that by now, Darren and Mia would be attached at the lips, without anything having a semblance to break them apart.

He seemed to sense the air of awkwardness floating about and quickly hurried on to leave the two of them alone.

Darren cleared his throat. Might as well be blunt and get through it like ripping off a band aid. "Look Mia," he started and paused, expecting her to say something but she didn't. She just looked at him expectantly, waiting for him to go on. He let out a sigh. "There's no easy way to do this so I'm just going to say it. I'm in love with someone else," he finally got out.

"I know," she said. Darren looked up at her with surprise. She knew? Was he really that obvious? Mia sighed and went on. "A see the way you look at him Darren. I see those hearts in your eyes. I see how miserable it makes you when he's less than pleased with you," she explained.

"Like now?" Darren asked and Mia looked at him for a moment, a question in her eyes. "He's not happy with me right now," he clarified, biting his lip.

"Than why don't you make him happy with you Darren?" she asked. Mia stood up from the couch and came around behind it to place a hand on his shoulder. "Everyone knows he and Will split because of you."

 _I didn't,_ Darren thought to himself. "Except me," he said aloud which wasn't exactly different than what he had been thinking but the point was he knew now. It was good to know though that the confession Chris made at the prison in his dream — and he was still having a hard time thinking of it as a dream — was actual truth. Maybe realizing that Kurt needed Blaine in his life wasn't the only lesson the lady in white was trying to teach him.

Mia laughed lightly and patted his shoulder before dropping her hand. "Oh Darren, sometimes you can be just as clueless as Blaine. Not seeing something that is right there in front of your face," she told him. He had no choice but to agree with her. He and Blaine were a lot more alike than he had realized.

"I do now," he said quietly. Mia gave him the slightest of smiles.

"Go get him Darren," she said then. And that was it. Just like that. No fighting. No pleading. No begging to keep trying to make things work. And this was exactly why Darren had loved Mia so much. She was always so understanding. She was a good person.

"You'll find someone who deserves you," he said, moving to grab his house and car keys. He gave Mia one last kiss on the cheek before he was out the door and rushing down the stairs.

The hour wasn't terribly late, but it wasn't all that early either. It was approaching dinner time. But Darren knew that Chris would likely be home by now. They didn't normally film on Saturdays so the work day would not have been nearly as long as it was normally.

With that in mind, Darren got into his car and started the engine. He could feel the tingle of nerves sprouting all over his body as he pulled out of the parking lot and set a course for Chris' house. He couldn't believe he was going to confess his love all over again because he had never done it for real and the first thing he hoped to do was to finally press his lips to Chris' in the sweetest of first kisses.

One would think that it wouldn't be their first kiss because they had kissed numerous times. But that was Kurt and Blaine kissing. It was never Chris and Darren. This would be the first time it was Chris and Darren.

The drive to Chris' house seemed to take forever and no time at all at the same time. He both wanted to get there and never arrive. Mostly because Chris was mad at him and there was no telling what would happen when he got there. Or even that the other man wouldn't reject him. He licked his lips and gripped the steering wheel tighter. His palms were already sweating.

Darren wasn't even aware that he had been sitting in Chris' driveway for all of fifteen minutes until there was a rap on his car window. He turned his head to find Chris standing there, clad in a Star Wars t-shirt and sweatpants. He had a tub of ice cream in one hand and a spoon hanging from his mouth. He looked good enough to ravish completely.

Instead of opening the door, Darren rolled down the window. Chris pulled the spoon from his mouth with a pop and the twenty-seven year old had to keep himself from moaning as he watched the pale man lick the remains of melted ice cream from his lips.

"Hi," he said sort of lamely. _A plus Darren, A plus,_ he scolded himself.

"Are you just going to sit out here all night or are you going to come inside?" Chris asked by way of a response. Though his tone was playful, Darren knew better than to think he was completely over the entire thing.

The curly haired man drew a breath and ran a hand through his hair, disheveling it even more. Chris inclined his head to the side, jabbing the spoon into the ice cream and letting it stick straight up out of the tub as he reached a hand for the door handle.

"Chris, can we…talk?" Darren asked as the pale man pulled the door open. Chris' immediate reply was to hold his free hand out to him. Darren took it, becoming consciously aware of how soft and warm and perfect Chris' hand felt in his own.

"If you're going to apologize," Chris started as Darren shut the car door behind him with his free hand. "I don't need to hear it." Without another word, he turned and started pulling the older man toward the house, fingers subconsciously lacing themselves between Darren's.

"You don't?" Darren asked in surprise after they entered the house and Chris kicked the door shut behind them. The younger man shook his head. "Why not?"

A soft smile wrote itself across Chris' face. "Because I know you're sorry Dare," he said gently. He pulled him along to the living room where he seated himself on the couch, pulling Darren down beside him. A Downton Abbey rerun was playing on the TV. Chris picked up the remote and shut it off, turning his body to face Darren's and still not letting go of his hand. "I'm sorry for being such a dick to you."

With his free hand, Darren plucked the tub of ice cream from Chris and placed it on the coffee table before taking a hold of his other hand, rubbing the backs with his thumbs. He heard Chris' breath catch in his throat.

"You have nothing to be sorry for Chris," he said softly. Chris opened his mouth to protest but Darren shook his head. "You had every right to be angry. You were probably thinking that I didn't want to film with you anymore. That I was sick and tired of it and of you, of Kurt and of Blaine and of the two of them together." The guilty look on the pale man's face confirmed all this. "And I admit that I was tired of Klaine being Blaine's only real major storyline," he went on. "But I have never ever _ever_ stopped loving working with you."

That brought a small smile to Chris' face and he squeezed Darren's hands. "I'm sorry that everything for Blaine has been kind of one directional," he said. "He's a great character and he deserves a journey that doesn't only revolve around his relationship with Kurt." Darren nodded.

"That's what I told Ryan and he told me something I didn't fully understand until sometime between the meeting earlier today and now," he replied. Chris inclined his head and looked at him curiously.

"Oh?" he said.

"Yeah," Darren said slightly lamely. He flushed a little.

"What was that?" Chris asked. Darren drew a breath and squeezed Chris' hands lightly.

"That Kurt needs Blaine just as much as Blaine needs Kurt," he told him, voice soft and gentle. Chris smiled again and that smile was just the most perfect thing Darren had ever seen in his life. He just wanted to take that smile and plaster it there forever. Now came the moment he was the terrified of. He drew a breath. "And because of that, I realized something else," he said, voice barely a whisper.

"What did you realize?" Chris asked. His voice matched Darren's own and for a moment it was so quiet the twenty-seven year old was pretty sure he could hear both of their hearts pounding in their chests. This was it.

"That I need you as much as Blaine needs Kurt, possibly more so," he managed to say. Chris' breath hitched and his breathing became more rapid as anticipation settled into his very being.

"Wha-what are you saying?" he stammered out. Darren licked his lips.

"You move me Chris." He had to smile at the use of the line from Original Song. "I'm in love with you Chris Colfer and I have been for a long time." There he said it. For real this time. Not imaginary, not in a dream, for real.

The only verbal response he got from the pale man was a soft breathless, "Dare," before Chris' lips came crashing down on his. And there it was, the first kiss he felt like he had been waiting an eternity for. That perfect first kiss he had been searching for since the moment he'd confessed in his dream.

Darren couldn't breathe, he couldn't think, and he lost all sense of awareness as his focus settled on nothing but the man kissing him at that moment. His arms wound around Chris' waist and pulled the slightly taller man closer to him. He subtly registered Chris' own arms wrapping around his neck.

He pressed his lips more firmly to Chris' and his heart gave a happy surprised flip flop when he felt the other man's tongue prod at the seam of his mouth, begging to enter it. He obliged and suddenly, Chris' tongue was in his mouth and it was the most amazing feeling that Darren had ever known in his entire life. He gently sucked on the other's tongue, massaging it with his own and was rewarded when Chris moaned into his mouth.

It seemed all too soon the need for air hit both of them and they broke apart, Chris leaning his forehead against Darren's, breathing heavily and the close up view of his gorgeous eyes was the most beautiful thing the older man had ever seen.

"Say it again," Chris whispered breathlessly.

"I'm in love with you," Darren whispered back, just as breathless. How could he not be? He just had the world's most amazing kiss with the world's most amazing man.

"Oh Darren, you don't know how long I've wanted to hear you say that," Chris said, pressing his lips back to Darren's for a short but sweet kiss. Darren pulled him impossibly closer. "I tried so hard not to fall in love with you. I really did and for a moment, I thought everything was going to work out because I met Will and I was happy with him. But I guess I wasn't happy enough. He could see it. My parents could see it. Ryan could see it. Everyone could see it."

Darren gave him a sheepish look. "I couldn't," he said."

A soft smile graced Chris' face. "Yes, well honey, that's why you make the perfect Blaine." He giggled and punctuated his words with several kisses to Darren's lips and nose.

"Because I'm so clueless?" Darren asked.

"Exactly," Chris said, pulling back to look at him. "Because Dare, you and Blaine are one of the same."


	35. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well guys, this is it, the epilogue and final chapter of this story. I know usually the epilogue is shorter than the rest but this came out longer than most of the regular chapters at around 3500 words. Oops. But that's what happens when you have to let the story flow.
> 
> I'm going to let you go ahead and read it and list all my thank yous and stuff at the bottom. This chapter is complete fluff. ;)
> 
> Comments and kudos make me smile, enjoy!

**Four Months Later**

Chris giggled, rolling over in the bed and pressing his lips sweetly to Darren's. Their naked bodies melded together as they lay tangled in the sheets of Chris' bed. Or more like, _their_ bed. Darren had hardly left Chris' house since the day he had confessed. Well, except for work and to get clothes. But other than that he had practically moved in.

The younger man pulled back from the kiss with a smile on his face. He fell onto his side and propped his head up on his hand, looking down at Darren with all the love in his eyes and free hand tracing circles on the other man's chest.

"These past four months have been absolutely perfect Dare," Chris said, leaning in to nuzzle his nose in Darren's neck. "Mm, you need to shave scruffy face," he added with a giggle.

Darren rolled over onto his side and lazily draped an arm across Chris' body, pulling him closer to him and pressing their naked bodies together. Chris let out a sound that was something of a mix between a contented sigh and a groan as he felt their oversensitive cocks brush together. They never seemed to exhaust themselves from sex. They couldn't get enough of each other.

"We've been over this Chris," Darren replied playfully. "You like the scruff."

"Mm," the pale man said, once more pressing his lips to Darren's. The older man tightened his grip on the Chris' waist and rolled them so that he was on top of the other man. He pressed his own lips more firmly against Chris' and Chris slid his arms up to wrap around his neck.

"I love you," Darren whispered, breaking the kiss just long enough to breathe the sentiment. Chris smiled against his lips and Darren felt his heart flutter.

"I love you too," Chris managed to whisper back before he tugged Darren's bottom lip in between his teeth, biting down softly.

Darren groaned and the two of them continued exchanging heated kisses for a few moments. The older man could feel his sensitive cock awakening to the activity again and he shifted slightly on top of Chris, searching for that delicious friction. He knew he had found it when Chris broke the kiss and threw his head back with a gasp, eyes rolling up into his head momentarily.

"Chris?" Darren said suddenly a moment later and when the younger man had regained his focus he looked up at him. Darren was biting his lip in that way he always did when he was worried about something. Chris dropped his arms from the other man's neck and pushed himself up into a sitting position, back resting against the headboard. He pulled Darren back against him, hands splayed across his chest as he held him protectively. He nuzzled his cheek with his nose.

"What's the matter honey?" he asked quietly.

Darren let out a sigh and Chris raised one hand to gently stroke through the disarray of curl's atop his boyfriend's head.

"You do believe me, right?" Darren asked suddenly, bringing up one of his own hands to rest over the hand that was still on his chest.

Chris knew what he was talking about. Darren had told him all about the dream and how it had seemed so real and he had never once thought during the whole thing that it was a dream. But then, why wouldn't it be? Kurt and Blaine and Santana and Rachel and Sam and all of them were fictional characters. Fictional characters whose lives were to be left alone with the ending of the new season, which they had started filming. There was no way there was a reality where their world actually existed, right?

Darren did believe in alternate realities. Sometimes he wondered what his life would be like in them. What would other Darrens be doing on this warm late August night? But most of the time, he didn't want to think about it anymore because it was highly likely those other Darrens didn't have Chris. Any little changes could produce a completely different timeline and Darren didn't think he could handle not having Chris.

Chris continued stroking Darren's curls. "Of course I do honey." Sure it was perhaps one of the most unusual stories that he had ever heard before but Darren had sounded so sincere when he said it that he couldn't help but to believe every word of it. Of course, it also sounded like something out of a fan fic, which had been the first words out of his mouth at the time. Questioning whether Darren had been at the fan fiction again.

Darren didn't say anything in reply. He didn't have to. He knew Chris was telling the truth and that he would never lie to him. They could just lay there contentedly and Darren would be happy. He had honestly never been more happy than he had been the past four months. Being with Chris was amazing. Better than he could ever imagine. And the best part was that all their friends supported them. It had been like they had been waiting for it to happen. Even Joey, which kind of surprised Darren.

Joey didn't even seem to mind that Darren had practically moved out. He was all too keen to turn the place into a bachelor pad, which hadn't really been something he could do with Darren there seeing as the twenty-seven year old hadn't exactly been a bachelor.

The comfortable silence stretched on for a few more peaceful moments, Chris continuing to stroke Darren's curls with Darren resting against him in contentedness.

It was broken when Darren finally spoke again. "Chris?" he let out softly, eyes staring down at their joined hands.

"Yes baby?" Chris replied and the older man felt his heart flutter. Every time Chris called him any term of endearment filled him with warmth but this, this was much more personal. At least that was the way Darren felt about it. He didn't think Chris would call anyone who was just a friend 'baby.'

He tightened the grip he had on Chris' hand and stayed silent for another moment. Chris didn't push him. He knew when Darren needed to take his time.

"You know I love you right?" Darren finally asked and Chris moved to turn the other man around so that they were facing each other. He had a confused look on his face as he glanced at the older man. Where was Darren going with this?

"Oh honey, you know I do," he said, brushing a wayward curl out of Darren's face. Darren smiled gently and moved to take both of Chris' hands in his, rubbing them with his thumbs. He inclined his head to the side slightly for a moment.

It was quiet once more. Darren's grip on Chris' left hand tightened just slightly and his gaze dropped down to it for a moment, thumb brushing over Chris' ring finger. "You know, that finger looks naked without Kurt's engagement ring on it," he said absently.

Chris busted up laughing and shook his head fondly. "Dare, you know the ring is just a prop," he said with a playful roll of his eyes. Darren didn't take his eyes away from that finger.

"What if I don't want it to be?" he asked quietly. Chris felt his breath catch in his throat. Was Darren doing what he thought he was doing? Was now even a good time for this?

They had been blissfully in love for four months. Everything had been paradise. They didn't fight, they didn't struggle with each other's schedules, they learned to work around each other with such a practiced ease it was like they had been doing it their whole lives.

If Chris was being honest with himself, he would have said yes instantly had Darren popped the question the day he confessed to being in love with him. It was almost like it was inevitable. Just maybe they were trying to make themselves wait and not rush so quickly. But maybe, Darren couldn't wait anymore.

Though Chris would be the first to admit, if Darren was doing what he thought he might be, he was not going to be telling anyone the story. Getting engaged while naked in bed between rounds of insanely hot sex was not exactly the type of proposal story you'd want to share with all your friends.

He kept quiet about it however, not wanting to ruin whatever Darren was doing. Instead, he said, "What are you getting at Dare?"

The curly haired man once more brushed his thumb over Chris' ring finger before he finally raised his head and looked the younger man straight in the eyes.

"I'm saying, I can't wait any longer Chris," he said and Chris could feel his heart beating in his chest. "I love you and I've known since I realized it in that dream that you're the one I want to spend the rest of my life with," he went on. "I didn't tell you this part but at one point, I had a vision about our wedding. Now I know it won't be exactly the same as the vision, particularly because I believe we were in a church." He paused and wrinkled his nose. Chris let out a small wet giggle. His eyes were already shining with unshed tears. "I guess what I'm trying to say here is Christopher Paul Colfer, I love you more than I ever thought I could love a person. So please, would you do me the honor of becoming my husband? Will you marry me?"

Chris choked on tears as he tried to hold it together. "Yes," he said through choked sobs. "Yes, yes, a thousand trillion million times yes!" He pulled his hands free from Darren's and threw himself into his arms, burying his face into the older man's neck, and soaking his skin with his tears.

Darren held him back, tighter than ever.

* * *

**The Following Winter, February, 2015. Central Park, NYC**

It was Valentine's Day and maybe that was cliché but Chris and Darren didn't care. They were in love and they had pushed the date as far away from the proposal as they could possibly stand. Both of them had wanted to run off to Vegas and elope but they were glad they hadn't done that. No, they had forced themselves to sit down and plan a proper wedding. And now here they were, in Central Park in New York City, ironically, one of the places they thought Kurt and Blaine would have chosen.

Darren was fidgeting with a mixture of nerves and excitement. The recently turned twenty-eight year old straightened the knot in his tuxedo tie as he waited for the march to begin.

Just like in his vision, he was standing at the end of the aisle, watching and waiting for his beloved to make that walk toward him. The moment when he would see nothing else but Chris. This was how he wanted it.

The white chairs that had been neatly set out were full with their families and friends. The members of the cast and crew who weren't in the wedding party sat right up with Chris and Darren's families. And the curly haired man could see Ryan Murphy beaming at him from his seat. It was as though he had known all along that this was going to happen some day. Darren had to remember to thank him.

A lush red carpet had been spread down the aisle, over the snow that littered the ground. Twilight closed in around them all and Darren thought he had never seen a scene more beautiful. The preacher stood proudly in front of him.

Finally, the music began to play and the first of three pairs of people began to make their way down the aisle. It was Darren's brother Chuck, his arm linked with Ashley's as the two of them happily made their way toward Darren. Darren had debated so hard over whether to make Joey or Chuck his best man. In the end, Joey insisted it be Chuck because he was Darren's brother after all. Ashley was Chris' best woman you could say. She was the position equal to the Maid of Honor for the bride.

When they reached the end of the aisle, Ashley pecked Darren on the cheek and Chuck gave him a bro hug before moving to take his place behind him as Ashley stood on the other side.

Chuck and Ashley were followed by Joey and Lea who were also smiling and Darren couldn't help but praise how amazing the girls looked in their dresses. And Chris said he knew nothing about fashion. Darren had to pfft at that.

Lea did the same as Ashley and pecked Darren on the cheek before going to stand with the other girl. Joey hugged Darren and moved to stand behind Chuck.

Last but not least, came Chord and Amber. Chris and Darren had made this match up in honor of Samcedes on Glee. Cheesy, sure but it had been mentioned in Darren's dream. When Chris had called Sam out about telling Mercedes his feelings for her. The truth was though, the two looked fantastic together.

Amber and Chord both hugged Darren when they reached the end of the aisle and they had just taken their places when the opening notes of _Come What May_ started. Yes, that was another cheesy shout out to a Glee thing but this one in particular dedicated to their own characters and they didn't want just a simple wedding march.

It seemed to take forever, that moment when Darren would first lay eyes on the love of his life for the first time since the morning before. He felt his breath hitch as he stared at the archway at the other end of the aisle.

And then, there he was. Chris appeared in the archway on the arm of his sister Hannah. It was a decision that had been made with absolutely no room for discussion, by both of them. He was clad in a white tux, the trimming a shimmering pale blue that brought out his eyes. It complimented him nicely. His hair was swept up high on his head and he had a delicate closed mouth smile on his face. Clutched in his hands was a beautiful all white bouquet of roses. Darren felt himself go weak in the knees just staring at him.

The walk down the aisle seemed like the longest walk ever and the quickest one all at the same time and if Darren felt that way just watching this beautiful man he could call his, he wondered how Chris felt actually making that walk.

Trying to ground himself, Darren found Mia's eyes in the audience. She smiled at him and gave him a cheesy thumbs up. He fought the urge to roll his eyes. Mia was accompanied by her new boyfriend, a guy named Andy that Darren thought was perfect for her.

To both Chris and Darren's surprise, Will has also accepted the invitation they had hesitantly sent to him, not sure if he would want to attend the wedding of his ex to the guy that was the reason for their breakup. But he was there and apparently he had a new beau of his own. They'd probably meet the guy later.

Darren was pulled from his thoughts when he realized Chris had finally reached him. Hannah released her brother's arm, holding it out for Darren to take, which he did. She kissed them both on the cheek and went off to join her parents.

"You look so breathtaking," he whispered to Chris as the two of them approached the alter, causing the younger man to blush.

"That makes two of us," Chris whispered back. They came to a stop and the music ended. A hush fell over the crowd.

"Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to join Darren Everett Criss and Christopher Paul Colfer together as one in holy matrimony," the preacher said, opening the ceremony.

It seemed in no time at all that they got to the point of the vows. They had elected to write their own vows and Darren felt nervous jitters in his stomach as the preacher made the announcement.

"Darren and Chris have elected to write their own vows. Darren?" he said, nodding to the curly haired man.

The twenty-eight year old took a deep breath, took hold of both of Chris' hands, and looked him right in the eye. "Chris, I'd like to start by apologizing for being such a blind idiot." A laugh rumbled through the guests and Chris playfully rolled his eyes. "But I'm not anymore. And if weren't for a certain something and a certain someone," and here he glanced toward Ryan briefly, "I might still be one," he went on. "I know we've been official less than a year but the truth is Chris, my heart has belonged to you since day one and I'm so sorry it took me so long to realize that. You've done nothing but make my life more joyful. I can't picture it without you in it. You are everything to me. I will love you until I die and beyond." Chris gave him a watery smile as Darren concluded his little speech.

And then it was Chris' turn. "Darren," he started, squeezing the other man's hands. "I knew I was in love with you the moment I first met you. I tried and I tried and I tried to push it down and move forward because at the time, I didn't think I could ever have you." He licked his lips and drew a breath. Darren squeezed his hands gently. "But it never worked. I fell more in love with you with each passing day and though I tried to hide it, everyone saw right through me. The truth is, every time I see you, I fall in love with you all over again. And I'm going to keep falling in love with you for the rest of my life. I don't want anyone else. And I never will. You're it for me Darren and I'm going to love you just as long as you love me if not longer."

Tears welled in both men's eyes as the ceremony continued. They exchanged rings, both nearly choking up on the repetition of the words. And then the moment they had both been waiting for for what had felt like an eternity finally came.

"By the power invested in me, I now pronounce you husband and husband. You may kiss the groom," the preacher said and Darren dropped Chris' hands in order to grip his face gently instead and their lips crashed together. The fireworks that seemed to burst with the cheering and applause of the audience, were louder than either man had ever heard them and for a moment, they were in their own little world.

With the need for air on the horizon, they broke apart finally, resting their foreheads together and smiling at each other. That was perfect.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you, Mr. and Mr. Darren Criss-Colfer!" the preacher called out. And everyone cheered just as _Come What May_ started again and Darren began to escort his new husband back down the aisle.

The wedding festivities lasted well into the night, long after Chris and Darren had left for their honeymoon in Paris. It had been spectacular. Lea had caught the bouquet, Joey had caught a garter they had borrowed just so Darren had something to throw. The entire wedding party and most of the guests ended up with more cake on themselves than in their mouths due to the fact that instead of placing the bite of cake in Chris' mouth, Darren had decided to smush it all over his face. This resulted in Chris gasping and grabbing a handful of cake right out of the third tier and pelting it at Darren's head and the cake war had begun.

All in all, the two of them couldn't have asked for a better and more perfect wedding.

* * *

_Congratulations are in order for Darren and Chris Criss-Colfer. The couple welcomed their daughter Ryanne into the world late last night after their surrogate had spent about nineteen hours in labor._

_The happy couple, who last Valentine's Day celebrated their third wedding anniversary were exceptionally relieved when their daughter checked out healthy. Most of you by now are aware of the complications Lea experienced while carrying the baby. She almost lost her a few times._

_When it came out that Lea had offered to carry the child for them, it was major news for weeks. But even after Glee ended officially a few months after Darren and Chris got married, the cast remained close friends. Lea, Amber, and Chord spend the most time with the couple since then. The three of them were in their wedding party after all. Chris does still see Ashley but Miss. Fink is quite busy starring in her own television series so she doesn't have quite as much time._

_When asked why they chose Ryanne for their daughter's name, Darren, 31 and Chris, 27, stated that it was to honor Ryan Murphy whom they credit with being the soul reason for bringing them together. They have yet to inform anyone on the little girl's full name, deciding they wanted to keep that private for the time being. For now, we need only to call her Ryanne Criss-Colfer._

_Welcome to the world little sweetie. I hope you know how amazing your daddies are. Congratulations again to Darren and Chris, the proud fathers. Take care of that little darling and may you forever be a happy family._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And there we have it. The end of a journey that started with a question asked of Darren by a fan. I hope you had as much fun reading along this journey as I had writing it. This is so nostalgic. It always is for me when I manage to successfully complete a chapter fic. Which unfortunately has not been as often as I would like but I am working on that.
> 
> If you haven't yet and want to keep reading with me as I write, u suggest you go look at my newer fic The Soul Connection. Now that I have completed One Of The Same, that one will be my top priority. A warning though, it is very angsty and not at all for the light of heart. If the slave trade is not your cup of tea, you probably don't want to read it. But the chapters have been coming out longer than the ones in this fic have.
> 
> Finally, on to the thank yous. First and foremost, I have to thank ChrisCalledMeSweetie for giving me this prompt and asking me to write it. I never imagined it would turn into a fic this length. I honestly thought it would likely end up a lengthy one-shot or something. But no, it came out to be a full-fledged chapter adventure with twists and turns even I couldn't have predicted. So thank you so much for giving me this adventure to play in. Secondly, thanks goes to my dad because he has always been my greatest supporter when it comes to my writing. If it wasn't for his continued encouragement and support and the fact that he reads everything I write, whether it be a fan fic or a work of original fiction, I probably wouldn't be where I am now nor would I be confident of achieving my goal to one day be a published author. And finally, I want to thank you guys, my readers because you are the ones who keep me motivated to keep giving you more. Without you, there is no story to thrive on. Thank you for being patient with me after my updates slowed down. Don't ever try to write one chapter a day on a cell phone notepad app. It burns you out, especially when you have to worry about posting on your RPG too.
> 
> Lastly on that note, I was actually going to take the day off from writing today altogether because I made sixteen posts yesterday on the RPG I belong to and was burned out on writing but since nothing has been going on today and I kind of got bored, I decided to give it to you now anyway.
> 
> Once again, thank you for embarking on this journey with me. It's been wonderful and hope to see some of you back for my future work and maybe past work if I progress any of it again in the future. Also, I have an announcement I'll be making about something in the future so keep an eye out for that.
> 
> -Dani


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